COBOL1

SG24-4887-00
Migrating Micro Focus OS/2 Dialog System Applications

to IBM VisualAge for COBOL for OS/2
December 1996
IBML
International Technical Support Organization
SG24-4887-00
Migrating Micro Focus OS/2 Dialog System Applications

to IBM VisualAge for COBOL for OS/2
December 1996
Take Note!
Before using this information and the product it supports, be sure to read the general information in
Appendix A, Special Notices on page 59.
First Edition (December 1996)

This edition applies to Version 1.2 Refresh, 83H9131, VisualAge for COBOL for OS/2 for use with the OS/2 WARP
3.0 Operating System.
Comments may be addressed to:
IBM Corporation, International Technical Support Organization
Dept. QXXE Building 80-E2
650 Harry Road
San Jose, California 95120-6099
When you send information to IBM, you grant IBM a non-exclusive right to use or distribute the information in any
way it believes appropriate without incurring any obligation to you.
Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 1996. All rights reserved.
Note to U.S. Government Users Documentation related to restricted rights Use, duplication or disclosure is
subject to restrictions set forth in GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp.
Contents
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Preface
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How This Redbook Is Organized
The Author of This Redbook . .
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Comments Welcome
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Chapter 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.1 Description of a Typical GUI MF COBOL Application . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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1.2 Description of a Typical IBM COBOL PM Application
1.3 The Migration Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.3.1 Changing from DS to VDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.3.2 Translating from the Dialog System Code to the IBM COBOL Structure
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1.3.3 Moving from MF COBOL to IBM COBOL
1.3.4 Data Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Chapter 2. Sample Application Description
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2.1 Before You Start
2.2 Our Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3 The Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Chapter 3. Migration Utility Overview
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3.1 Background
3.2 Utility Description . . . . . . . . .
3.3 How to Use the Migration Utility
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Chapter 4. Comparison of MF Dialog System Objects and VisualAge COBOL

Parts
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4.1 General Differences
4.2 Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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4.3 Menu Items
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4.4 Entry Fields
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4.5 Push Buttons
4.6 List Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.7 Multiline Entry Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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4.8 Radio Button
4.9 Selection or Combination Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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4.10 Static Text
4.11 Group Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.12 Bitmaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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4.13 Notebooks
4.14 Dialog Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.15 Message Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Chapter 5. Migrating the Sample Application
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5.1 A Practical Example
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Chapter 6. Embedding COBOL Logic in the Sample Application

6.1 Embedding the Old Code (the OLDMAIN procedure) . . . .
Copyright IBM Corp. 1996
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Chapter 7. Event Logic Migration to VisualAge COBOL for Sample

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Application
7.1 Event to Event Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7.1.1 Events for the OEMAIN-CUSTNO Entry Field . . . . . . . .
7.1.2 Events for the CUSTINFO-SHIPID Entry Field . . . . . . . .
7.1.3 Events for the OEMAIN-PARTNO Entry Field . . . . . . . .
7.1.4 Events for the OEMAIN-PRODUC-MODEL Entry Field . . .
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7.1.5 Events for the OEMAIN-UNIT Entry Field
7.1.6 Events for the OEMAIN-CUSTINFO Push Button . . . . . .
7.1.7 Events for the ORDEROK Radio Button . . . . . . . . . . .
7.1.8 Events for the OEMAIN-NEWORDER Push Button . . . . .
7.1.9 Events for the REVISE-ORDER Radio Button . . . . . . . .
Chapter 8. Installing the Migration Utility
8.1 Hardware and Software Prerequisites
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8.2 Installing the Migration Utility
Appendix A. Special Notices
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List of Abbreviations
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How to Get ITSO Redbooks

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How IBM Employees Can Get ITSO Redbooks
How Customers Can Get ITSO Redbooks . .
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IBM Redbook Order Form
Index
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Appendix B. Related Publications

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B.1 International Technical Support Organization Publications
B.2 Redbooks on CD-ROMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
B.3 Other Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Glossary
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Micro Focus Dialog System to VisualAge COBOL
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MF DS COBOL Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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IBM VDE Representation
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MF COBOL versus IBM COBOL
Migration Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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MF COBOL versus IBM COBOL
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Conversion Requirements for Data File Migration
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Proposed Migration Tool
Main Window of the Celdial Order Entry Application . . . . . . . .
Customer List Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Customer Information Window
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Select Part Number Window
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Select Model Window
Ship ID Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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The Celdial Order Entry
Micro Focus DS to IBM VDE Migration Utility Window . . . . . . .
Sample Micro Focus Dialog System Window . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Micro Focus DS to IBM VDE Migration Utility Window . . . . . . .
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MF2VDE - Message Window Migration Utility
Parts Catalog Window of the Migration Utility . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Window Properties Window for MF Dialog System
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Window Part Settings Window for IBM VDE
Pull Down Choice Details Window for the MF Dialog System . . .
Menu Item Part Settings Window for IBM VDE . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Entry Field Properties Window for MF Dialog System
Entry Field Part Settings Window for IBM VDE . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Push Button Properties Window for MF Dialog System
Push Button Part Settings Window for IBM VDE . . . . . . . . . . .
List Box Properties Window for MF Dialog System . . . . . . . . .
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List Box Part Settings Window for IBM VDE
Message Box Properties Window for MF Dialog System . . . . . .
COBOL GUI Designer - Define Message Window for IBM VDE . .
Migration Utility Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Migrated Ship - ID Window Showing Wrong-Sized Push Buttons.
VDE Define Message Window Showing Migration Fixes. . . . . . .
IBM COBOL Compiler Options Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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IBM VDE Code Assistant Window
COBOL GUI Designer - Celdial Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
MF2VDE - Settings Window Showing the Migration Utility Settings
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Preface
This redbook describes the process to migrate a Micro Focus Dialog System
application on OS/2 to IBM VisualAge for COBOL for OS/2 Version 1.2. The
relationship to VisualAge for COBOL for OS/2 Version 2 is that there is a
migration capability provided in Version 2 to migrate Version 1.2 Visual
Development Environment GUI parts to the Version 2 Visual Builder. The steps
for migration and use of a Dialog System migration tool in relationship to
Version 1.2 are covered.
This redbook was written for application developers interested in the
requirements for migrating Micro Focus Dialog System applications to IBM
VisualAge for COBOL for OS/2.
A practical example is used as illustration of the migration process and the
Dialog System migration tool is provided.
Knowledge of Micro Focus Dialog System, IBM VisualAge for COBOL for OS/2,
the COBOL language, and visual building techniques is required.
How This Redbook Is Organized

This redbook contains 89 pages. It is organized as follows:
Chapter 1, Introduction
Introduces the steps required to migrate a Micro Focus Dialog System
application to VisualAge for COBOL.
Chapter 2, Sample Application Description

This chapter gives an overview of the sample application.
Chapter 3, Migration Utility Overview

Details on the Migration Utility are reviewed in this chapter.
Chapter 4, Comparison of MF Dialog System Objects and VisualAge COBOL

Parts
This chapter compares various Dialog System objects to VisualAge COBOL
parts and explains the differences when migrating an application.
Chapter 5, Migrating the Sample Application

The steps used to migrate the sample application are reviewed.
Chapter 6, Embedding COBOL Logic in the Sample Application

This chapter explains porting the COBOL business logic to the migrated
application.
Chapter 7, Event Logic Migration to VisualAge COBOL for Sample

Application
The steps that need to be executed to set the actions for each part are
explained.
Chapter 8, Installing the Migration Utility

Steps to unpack and install the Migration Utility are explained.
vii
The Author of This Redbook

This redbook was produced by:
Agostino Assi, IBM Italy.
Thanks to the following people for their invaluable contributions to this project:
Paul Pacholski
IBM Toronto
Wilbert Kho
IBM Santa Teresa Laboratory, San Jose, California
This project was designed and managed by:
Joe DeCarlo
IBM International Technical Support Organization, San Jose Center
Comments Welcome
Your comments are important to us!
We want our redbooks to be as helpful as possible. Please send us your
comments about this or other redbooks in one of the following ways:
Use the electronic evaluation form found on the Redbooks Home Pages at
the following URLs:
For Internet users
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Send us a note at the following address:
redbook@vnet.ibm.com
viii
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Chapter 1. Introduction
Often when we discuss migrations, we mean moving from one version of a
product to a later version. Typical examples are migrations from OS/VS COBOL
to VS COBOL II or from VS COBOL II to COBOL/370.
In this type of migration we most often stay with the same product, merely
changing syntactical structures or introducing new functions.
Another type of migration, less frequent perhaps because it is more complex,
requires a change of product (moving from one tool to another). In this type of
migration many factors must be addressed, such as:
Language to language migration
Data format migration
Dialog format migration
Different approach to handling events.
These four points make the migration from the Micro Focus (MF) Dialog System
(DS) application development environment to the IBM VisualAge for COBOL for
OS/2 more complex than the standard language-to-language migration.
Before starting on the technical details that characterize this type of migration,
we briefly describe how both tools are characterized and how best to approach
the migration.
Hereafter, IBM VisualAge for COBOL for OS/2 can be referred to as VisualAge
COBOL, VA COBOL, Visual Development Environment (VDE), or Graphical User
Interface (GUI) Designer.
1.1 Description of a Typical GUI MF COBOL Application

A Typical MF GUI COBOL application consists of:
A Graphical System (the .GS file you create using the MF Dialog System tool)
A .CPB file that contains all the declarations you need for the variables you
defined in the Dialog System. It is a sort of bridge between the DS and
COBOL.
A .CBL program (the heart of the application):
....
working-storage section.
copy ds-cntrl.mf .
copy celdial.cpb .
copy sqlenv .
copy . . . . . . .
01 xxxx ......
procedure division.
main-process section.
perform program-initialize.
perform program-body until exit-pgm-true.
perform program-terminate.
program-initialize section.
.......
program-body section.
evaluate true
when custlist-botton-true
perform show-customer-list
when ................-true
perform ........
end-evaluate
perform call-dialog-system.
program-terminate section.
........
stop run.
load-screenset section.
move ds-new-set to ds-control
move c:\dsg\celdial\celdial.gs
to ds-set-name
call-dialog-system section.
call dialog-system using ds-control-block,
data-block.
if not ds-no-error
move ds-error-code to display-error-no
display DS ERROR NO: display-error-no
perform program-terminate
end-if.
.........
In the MF environment, the business logic is inside the program, while the logic
needed to manage the GUI is in the .DS file. To implement the logic inside the
.DS file, MF unfortunately uses another language (not COBOL) which needs a
translation and conversion to IBMs Visual Development Environment (VDE)
which is used in IBM VisualAge for COBOL for OS/2. This is one of the
differences we will meet during our migration and it will also be one of our major
problems.
A graphical representation of how components talk to one another in the MF
environment is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. MF DS COBOL Representation.
Graphical representation of the structure of a Micro Focus application.
When you execute an event, you execute a piece of code written in the DS
language which, at a certain moment, passes the control to a COBOL program.
The COBOL program passes the control back to the Dialog System, which in turn
executes a portion of its code and then passes the control back to the
Presentation Manager (PM), which is waiting for another event.
Values and variables used in the COBOL program can be used to update entry
fields, list boxes, or other dialog objects. In order to automatically update
COBOL variables after refreshing the window which they belong to, MF links a
dialog system object with one or more COBOL variables.
1.2 Description of a Typical IBM COBOL PM Application

A typical IBM COBOL Presentation Manager application is composed of a GUI
driver, which handles the user interface (UI) dialog and a COBOL program that
contains the logic you need to control and handle the UI dialog and the business
processes. When using the IBM solution, you need not know two languages;
COBOL is the only language necessary to write a PM application (Figure 2). This
means that part of the migration is a code translation of sorts between the DS
language and IBM COBOL.
Another characteristic that makes the tools different is that IBM COBOL uses
entires to define events, while MF uses procedures and calls them by setting a
flag and performing the related procedure in an Evaluate Loop.
Figure 2. IBM VDE Representation.

application.
Graphical representation of the structure of an I B M COBOL VisualAge
Because the MF Dialog System uses two different languages, in the starting
environment you must define variables related to some object (entry fields, list
boxes, multiline edit, and the like) in order to pass and get back values to the
COBOL program which is processing the logic. Therefore, between the COBOL
logic and the Dialog System logic, there exists a bridge based on these variables
which works like an interface service (Figure 3).
Figure 3. MF COBOL versus I B M COBOL.

VDE when we update an entry field.
How behavior differs between the Micro Focus Dialog System and I B M
1.3 The Migration Approach

The approach used is divided into four steps:
1. Go from DS to VDE.
2. Convert the Dialog System code to the IBM COBOL structure.
3. Go from MF COBOL to IBM COBOL.
4. Migrate the data.
Figure 4 is a graphical representation of the desired migration method.
Figure 4. Migration Cycle
1.3.1 Changing from DS to VDE

This step normally involves a detailed analysis of the entire application being
migrated: first looking for the related objects in the VDE, then creating them
manually, and setting their properties one by one.
Instead, we wrote a Migration Utility procedure that assists in creating some of
these objects with their related properties. We describe how to use the Migration
Utility in Chapter 3. For now, we assume that part of this first step can be
performed automatically. Figure 5 summarizes the steps.
1.3.2 Translating from the Dialog System Code to the IBM COBOL Structure
This step must be performed manually. The differences between the two tools
greatly affect this particular part of the migration. We had to use two machines
simultaneously and more than one open editor for each machine in order to
determine the flow of the MF environment and translate in into the IBM COBOL
code.
Figure 5. MF COBOL versus I B M COBOL.
Summary of steps to perform to migrate from MF to I B M COBOL.
1.3.3 Moving from MF COBOL to IBM COBOL

The sample application we used did not give us the opportunity to find any
particular aspect of COBOL differences worth comment. Within the boundaries
of the American National Standards Institute/ the ANSI 85 standard, no problem
should occur.
1.3.4 Data Migration

Since the only difference we have found is in the format of VSAM and sequential
files, we suggest writing a small program that reads data from the MF format
and writes into a flat file. Then, with another program, you can read that data
and recreate the files in the IBM COBOL format (Figure 6).
Figure 6. Conversion Requirements for Data File Migration
We have designed for a tool to automate the migration and that tool will be
covered in another book which focuses on data migration only. Figure 7 shows
how that tool behaves.
Figure 7. Proposed Migration Tool.

automatically.
Flow for the routine that would have migrated VSAM and sequential files
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2.1 Before You Start

When migrating from one tool to another, you may want to use the same
workstation for both. Here are some suggestions and hints to ensure that a
coexistence of tools will not affect the migration:
DB2/2
MF 3.2 supports DB2/2 V.1.x, but does not support DB2/2 V.2.x, which is a
prerequisite for IBM VisualAge for COBOL for OS/2. Therefore, you have to
have both versions of DB2/2 and be able to switch from one to the other
easily.
LANG environment variable

Both tools use the LANG environment variable. MF does not require the
variable to be specified in the CONFIG.SYS file, it uses the default value. IBM
COBOL needs the variable to be specified in the CONFIG.SYS, file, which
changes the value. The changed value is not accepted by MF. The solution is
to add the following statement to the CONFIG.SYS file:
SET LANG=EN_US
This is done to inform MF that the LANG variable is used by another
application and its value has been moved to that variable.
Installation sequence
Depending on which tool you installed first, VisualAge COBOL or DB2/2, you
should pay attention to the value of the threads variable in your CONFIG.SYS
file. The value should always be greater than 1024.
2.2 Our Approach

The best approach we can use to describe potential migration problems is to use
an existing application and explain, step by step, how to migrate it, highlighting
critical and delicate steps.
Before beginning with migration suggestions, we briefly describe the application
we are going to work with. This application is referred to throughout the
document.
2.3 The Application

The application we have chosen is an order entry procedure of the Celdial
application. Celdial is a fictitious cellular telephone manufacturer used for
demonstration and education purposes.
The Celdial application to be used is a Presentation Manager (PM) application,
based on a DB2/2 database, that uses flat files for basic data storage.
The main window of the order entry procedure is shown in Figure 8.
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Figure 8. Main Window of the Celdial Order Entry Application
The main window is complex and populated; however, within it you will find
several types of objects, such as:
Entry fields
Static texts
Push buttons
Group boxes
List boxes
Radio buttons
Bitmaps
For many objects properties have been changed. This is a good testing
environment for a migration because different kinds of objects and properties
have been set and they must be retained in the migrated application. In the main
window there are some hidden entry fields, such as the entry field at the right of
Customer or the entry field below Desc and Total . During the UI migration, we
should be careful that these properties are kept.
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We start with a quick description of what the application does and then we look
at its windows. The application has been created to help the Celdial clerk handle
the product orders. The Celdial database contains business tables, such as:
Table of customers
Table of products
Order Summary table
Order History table
The entire application is based on this database. The order entry part is
composed of six windows:
Main
Customer list
Customer information
Parts list
Models list
Ship ID list
From the main window, press the Customer List push button to reach the
Customer List window (Figure 9).
Figure 9. Customer List Window
After choosing a customer from the list, ask for associated information by
clicking on Customer Details. The Customer Information Window appears
(Figure 10).
13
Figure 10. Customer Information Window
Once a customer is selected, you can prepare an order for that customer by
choosing an available part from the Select Part window To do so, position the
cursor on the part entry field in the main window and press the PF9 key. The
Select Part Number window appears (Figure 11).
Figure 11. Select Part Number Window
After selecting an item, return to the main window (Figure 8). Position the cursor
in the model entry field and press the PF9 key to select a model for the part
(Figure 12).
14
Figure 12. Select Model Window
The lower left corner of the main window in Figure 8 now has a bitmap of the
product whose number and model you have selected.
Finally, select the Ship ID for your order (Figure 13).
Figure 13. Ship ID Window
You are ready to add the order to the main list box. Click on OK and place the
order by clicking on Place Order.
In summary, there is one main window which has five children at level one, That
is, each child has the main window as its parent (Figure 14).
15
Figure 14. The Celdial Order Entry
16
3.1 Background
The Migration Utility program is designed to help you migrate the GUI section of
the MF Dialog System. The objective is to avoid the long and tedious task of
recreating, one by one, all of the dialog components that have already been
created for the Dialog System.
The utility translates all of the GUI components individually, and where possible,
tries to maintain their properties. Certain properties are impossible to convert
initially because they are not directly supported, but often these properties can
be translated by adding a few statements to the program.
3.2 Utility Description

The Migration Utility was written in REXX using VX-REXX from Watcom. Details
about installing the utility and suggestions about customizing it can be found in
Chapter 8.
The utility needs an input file (.TXT) from the MF Dialog System. To produce this
file, you must go into the Dialog System and, after opening the application to be
migrated, you must:
Select the File option from the main DS window.
Select Export from the File option.
From the Dialog System Export window,
Select file as the destination.
Select all of the items in the Sections to Export group box.
Select all of the items in the Objects to Export group box.
At this point you have all of the needed input. You need only to invoke the utility
by double-clicking on the MF2VDE icon. The Micro Focus DS to IBM VDE
Migration Utility window appears (Figure 15).
17
Figure 15. Micro Focus DS to I B M VDE Migration Utility Window
The migration process has two steps. The first step parses the Micro Focus .TXT
file (Figure 15) and produces an intermediate file with .ODG. The second step
reads the .ODG file and produces an .ODF file, and also adds to the VDE catalog
the entire application dialog being migrated, as a single part, with the name you
specified in the Part name for the VDE entry field.
In the VDE, parts (objects in the Dialog System vocabulary) are stored in files
with extension .ODF. Even if each project in the VDE has its own .ODF file,
application layout information need not be written. The .ODF file will contain this
information after you create the application, drag the iconized part into the
application workframe, and save the application.
Figure 16. Sample Micro Focus Dialog System Window.
18
This w i n d o w migrates with the utility.
Here is the .TXT file obtained from MF, related to the window in Figure 16:
Screenset Details
First-Window WIN1
Decimal-Char .
Comma-Char ,
Currency-Sign $
Error-File dserror.err
Icon-File . \\ds.icn
Style FLAG-88 ANSI EMU-PORTABLE
End Details
Font-Record Stylename {FONT-001}
Typeface Helv Italic
Pointsize 8
Attributes BITMAPPED MONOSPACED BOLD ITALIC UNDERLINE
End-Record
Typeface Times New Roman Bold Italic
Pointsize 10
Attributes VECTOR PROPORTIONAL
End-Record
Typeface Tms Rmn Italic
Pointsize 10
Attributes VECTOR PROPORTIONAL
End-Record
Object WIN1
Type WINDOW
Parent DESKTOP
Start (440,6)
Size (1272,733)
Display Window Title
Style SIZE-BORDER TITLEBAR SYSTEM-MENU MINIMIZE MAXIMIZE CLIPPED
End Object #WIN1
Menu
Parent WIN1
Item {NoName}
Level 0
Display File
End Item
Item {NoName}
Level 1
Display Exit
Key F3
End Item
End Menu
Object LB1
Type LIST-BOX
Parent WIN1
Start (672,96)
Size (480,512)
Style DISABLE-HORIZONTAL
End Object #LB1
19
Object PB1
Type PUSH-BUTTON
Parent WIN1
Stylename {FONT-002}
Start (64,224)
Size (544,288)
Display Big Push Button
Style DEFAULT
End Object #PB1
Object EF1
Type ENTRY-FIELD
Parent WIN1
Start (96,512)
Size (472,64)
Style AUTOSCROLL BORDER CENTERED UPPER AUTOSKIP
Picture x(10)
Display In basso a destra
End Object #EF1
Global Dialog
Event ESC
RETC ;
End Event # ESC
Event CLOSED-WINDOW
RETC ;
End Event # CLOSED-WINDOW
End Dialog
A portion of the information contained in the above file will be ignored by the
Migration Utility, because the program is not currently in a position to translate
an equivalent in the VDE. Therefore, you must do some of the work for those
statements manually. This is true for statements relating to the event logic: in
the above example, the statements between Global Dialog and End Dialog are
ignored. A log file is produced containing information regarding what the process
has been unable to migrate.
The following is an example of how that file should look:
-------------------------- OBJECT : WIN1

(FrameWindow)
property CLIPPED
cannot be implemented automatically.
-------------------------- OBJECT : {NoName}
(MenuItem)
property {NoName}
-------------------------- OBJECT : {NoName}
(MenuItem)
property {NoName}
-------------------------- OBJECT : LB1
(ListBox)
-------------------------- OBJECT : PB1
(PushButton)
-------------------------- OBJECT : EF1
(EntryField)
property UPPER
The result of the process (the .ODG file) should have a format similar to the
following:
B 100 0
W FVDESFrameWindow V 318 V 294 V 110 V 2 V 00000800 V 00000033 D D V WIN1 D D D D D D D V Window@Title D D D
W FVDESMenuBar D D D D D V 1 V 1 D D D D D D D D D D D D D
W FVDESMenuItem D D D D D D D D V NoName D D D D D D D V File D D D D D
W FVDESSubmenu D D D D D D V 1 V 1 D D D D D D D D D D D D
WFVDESMenuItem D D D D D D D D V NoName D D V 34 D D D D V Exit D D D D D
X
X
20
X
X
W
P
P
P
X
X
E
FVDESCanvas D D D D D D V 1 V 1 D V 1 D D D D D D D D D D
FVDESListBox V 120 V 170 V 168 V 42 D D D D V LB1 D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
FVDESPushButton V 136 V 96 V 16 V 121 V 00000400 D D D V PB1 D D D D D D D V Big@Push@Button V Times@New@Roman@Bold@Italic V 0 V 10 D
FVDESEntryField V 118 V 21 V 24 V 73 V 0000001D D D D V EF1 D D D D D D D V In@basso@a@destra D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
This is the only format which can be used to import a new part into the VDE as a
user-defined part. A minimum of two steps are needed for such an import.
Any new part that is imported with this approach must be a collection of existing
parts; that is, you can create a new part as an entry field and a static text and
set certain properties to make them more user friendly. You cannot, however,
add a new part (for example, Draw a Pie) that is not a composition of existing
parts.
3.3 How to Use the Migration Utility

The only input needed is in the .TXT file, but before beginning you must fill in
another field name using the extension .ODG. We suggest using the name and
path of the .TXT file. To do so, after filling in the .TXT field, move to the next
field and the utility will fill in the entry field automatically. Click OK to complete
Step 1 (Figure 17).
Note: Be sure you do not select both boxes at once; the steps should be
performed one at a time.
Figure 17. Micro Focus DS to I B M VDE Migration Utility Window
During the process, if the input file has rows longer then 79 characters, the
procedure will display a message similar to:
File Restructuring needed. Just continue

21
and you must click on OK. This means that the procedure is taking additional
time to rewrite the input file in order to make it more readable.
After each step completes, you receive the message shown in Figure 18.
Figure 18. MF2VDE - Message Window Migration Utility
When the first step is completed, you will find two files in the task list, a .LOG
and an .ODG file.
The .ODG file is an informational file; you may want to check whether all the
objects are included.
The .LOG file is important because it contains a list of the processed objects and
the properties for each object which cannot be transferred automatically. You
should look at this file carefully, object by object, and note the properties that
have been left out. This process must be done after the part is imported into the
new object.
To begin Step 2, do the following (Figure 17):
Ensure that the IBM VDE is not open. You cannot add a new part to the
catalog if the VDE is active.
Deselect the first check box and select the second one.
Specify the .ODF file name.
Specify the part name you are adding to the catalog..
A valid part name is 1 to 23 alphanumeric characters (A-Z, 0-9) long and

contains at least one alphabetic character. A hyphen is also valid, but it may not
be the first or last character. Blank characters are not allowed.
For the .ODF file name, we suggest you use the file name proposed by the utility.
At the end of the process, you should hear a triple beep confirming that the
process has completed without errors. Otherwise, you will receive a message
window with error codes. Again, the Migration Utility is meant to handle a fair
number of MF Dialog System designs but not all DS system designs can be
migrated. Differences between DS and VDE will require manual migration.
At this point you are ready to open the VisualAge COBOL project. Open the
tools palette and find, in the user-defined page, the part you added to the catalog
(Figure 19). Now you need only drag the selected part into the VDE frame, drop
it, and wait a few seconds until all of the MF DS windows and objects are shown.
22
Figure 19. Parts Catalog Window of the Migration Utility.
Shows the n e w user-defined part
Before executing the build command, you should test to ensure that what you
have created is correct. Do this by using the steps that clean up the VDE
environment:
From the project you have just opened, delete the window automatically
added by VDE. Its name is usually FRA0000B and it is entitled Window with
canvas
Take a look at the .LOG file and look for the string:
>>>>>>>>>
part name too long.
If you find it, the string should continue with the part name. In this case
the string is:
>>>>>>>>>
part name too long: OEMAIN-ORDER-DETAIL-PARTPRICE.
If you read the following two rows, you find:
>>>>>>>>> it must be at least 23 characters, CORRECT IT ! in the VDE.

------------ OBJECT : PB1-LUNGOPIUDIVENTITREBYTEPER (PushButton)
This message informs you that the object which needs to be changed is
a push button. To find the parent of this object you must go back through
the .LOG file until you find the first FrameWindow. This is its parent.
Go into the VDE and find the push button in the first FrameWindow.
Change its part name to a length less than 23 characters.
Repeat the above cycle to find any other too-long part names.
When finished, open the source code, save it, close its window, and save the
project.
You are now ready to build.
If the build completes successfully, you can begin changing and adding the
properties that the utility has not migrated.
23
24
Chapter 4. Comparison of MF Dialog System Objects and VisualAge

COBOL Parts
This chapter describes the objects used by the MF Dialog System and compares
them with the objects (parts in the IBM environment vocabulary) belonging to the
VDE. For each object, we stress only those differences that are not portable from
the MF Dialog System to the VDE.
4.1 General Differences

The only aspect common to all the objects but not supported by the Migration
Utility is color. The Migration Utility does not support colors as attributes. To set
colors, you must change them object by object in the colors page of the property
notebook.
4.2 Windows
Fortunately, there are no complex differences between MF Dialog System
windows and VDE windows.
Most of the properties in the MF window (Figure 20) can be found in the VDE
object window (Figure 21). In the VDE object window you can also specify which
behavior your window needs when you hide or minimize it.
The only window property not supported by VDE is clipped , which is a parameter
that allows you to choose whether or not the secondary window is clipped within
the primary window. A window is clipped if the window information is truncated
at the border of the parent window.
The following is a list of the properties you must add to the VDE project
manually:
System-Position
This property has a corresponding property in VDE, DEFINED by SYSTEM ,
which can be obtained from the window notebook settings in the startup
page.
Relative-Position
This property has a corresponding property in VDE, DEFINED By
APPLICATION , which can be obtained from the window notebook settings in
the startup page.
The menu bar object for the VDE window is not in the settings notebook of the
window properties, but in the Parts Palette window. The menu bar object is not a
window property but a different object.
25
Figure 20. Window Properties Window for MF Dialog System
Figure 21. Window Part Settings Window for I B M VDE
4.3 Menu Items

The following is a list of properties not supported by the VDE:
Hide-Accelerator
This property allows hiding the accelerator description from the text of the
menu item. For example, if you associate F3 with the exit menu item, turning
this flag ON shows the string Exit F3; otherwise, you receive the string Exit
This can be fixed in the VDE environment by changing the menu item label
manually.
Context-Only
This property causes the menu item to work in context usage only.
In the MF DS, the shortcut key for the menu item object is a part of the
properties of the object (Figure 22). This is also true in the VDE (Figure 23), but
here it is not possible to specify it manually.
26
Figure 22. Pull Down Choice Details Window for the MF Dialog System
Figure 23. Menu Item Part Settings Window for I B M VDE
4.4 Entry Fields

For the entry field objects, the difference that appears immediately is that for the
MF DS you must define a COBOL variable (MasterField) related to the object
(Figure 24) This variable represents the bridge between the Dialog System and
the COBOL program.
Micro Focus does validations on the entry fields based on the format of the field
and on values the user specifies. This kind of validation can only be partially
translated into the VDE (Figure 25). The following is a list of the validations that
VDE cannot completely support:
Null Disallowed
Nulls are spaces in alphabetic or alphanumeric fields and zeros in numeric
fields. If the content of the field contains a null value, this property forces you
to change the value. To make this available in an VisualAge COBOL
environment, you must add code to the CHANGE or LOSTFOCUS events
related to that particular entry field.
Chapter 4. Comparison of MF Dialog System Objects and VisualAge COBOL Parts
27
Date validation
This checks whether the date field contains a valid date. You must add code
to the LOSTFOCUS event in order to check whether the date is valid.
Range-tables
This property permits the definition of validation tables. The MF Dialog
System allows you to define more than one range or value. The VDE allows
you to define one validation range and an alternative to the validation value.
If you want to accept values such as zero or those between 100 and 200, you
cannot use the validation property only, you must add code to the
LOSTFOCUS event. For the MF Dialog System you can define more than one
range-table or value in the OR field.
BLANK-WHEN-ZEROS
This validation is for numeric items only. It inserts spaces rather than zeros
in the entry field. For an equivalent property in the VDE, code must be
written.
The following properties are not supported by IBM VDE:
REQUIRED
This forces you to partially fill the entry field; it will not allow the entry field
to be empty.
FULL
This forces you to fill the entry field completely.
UPPER
This automatically translates the content of the entry field into upper case.
LOWER
This automatically translates the content of the entry field into lower case.
AUTOSWIPE
This selects all of the data associated with a field you tab to that field. Any
data you type in replaces the selected data.
FIT-PICTURE
This property allows the Dialog System to automatically define an entry field
length based on the length of the string defined in the MasterField
parameter. Because VisualAge COBOL does not use any predefined variable
related to the entry field, this property cannot be migrated.
The following are MF properties and their corresponding names in the VDE:
28
Display field --> Visible
No echo
--> Masked
AutoSkip
--> AutoTab
Border
--> Margins
Figure 24. Entry Field Properties Window for MF Dialog System
Figure 25. Entry Field Part Settings Window for I B M VDE
4.5 Push Buttons

All of the properties of the MF DS push buttons (Figure 26) are a subset of the
IBM VDE push button properties. Therefore, they do not pose a migration
problem (Figure 27).
One MF Dialog System property which cannot be automatically migrated and is
related to the dimension of the push button object is fit-text . With fit-text , the
push button does not need any dimensioning; it remains slightly larger than the
related text. This property can be fixed manually.
Notes:
In the IBM VDE, you can associate a shortcut key with a push button.
In the MF Dialog System, one push button object has the ability to be a
graphic or text push button, while the VDE has two different objects, a push
button and a graphic push button.
29
Figure 26. Push Button Properties Window for MF Dialog System
Figure 27. Push Button Part Settings Window for I B M VDE
4.6 List Boxes

For its list box entry field, the MF Dialog System requires the use of a
Masterfield with the related consequences (Figure 28).
The VDE (Figure 29) does not automatically support the blank-when-zeros
property.
There are no major list box differences. Use of the associated with group
property in the MF DS is easy to translate into the IBM VDE syntax by using the
same COBOL structure when you want to populate or, in general, act on it.
30
Figure 28. List Box Properties Window for MF Dialog System
Figure 29. List Box Part Settings Window for I B M VDE
4.7 Multiline Entry Fields

Multiline entry fields pose no migration problems. The MF DS multiline entry
fields are a subset of the IBM VDE entry field properties.
4.8 Radio Button

The radio button poses no migration problems. The MF DS radio button
properties are a subset of the IBM VDE radio button properties.
4.9 Selection or Combination Boxes

The MF DS selection box corresponds to the IBM VDE combination box.
In the MF DS environment, you must specify whether selection box items must
be in upper case, mixed case, or lower case. This is not needed in the IBM VDE.
You must also define which type of value you are using in the selection box (for
example, x(10) or 9(4)) and you may specify that items should be blank when
zero or justified right.
The remaining properties are similar.
31
4.10 Static Text

The static text object does not have any properties in the MF DS environment
and thus poses no problems for the migration.
4.11 Group Boxes

The MF DS group box and the IBM VDE group box have the same properties;
therefore, they are equivalent.
4.12 Bitmaps
The MF DS bitmap object contains a subset of the IBM VDE bitmap object
properties.
The bitmap object in the MF DS export file contains no information about the size
of the bitmap it displays because, unlike IBM VDE, the MF DS does not allow
scaling of pictures. As a result, after migration the utility places the bitmap in the
correct starting position, as defined in MF DS. However, its size could cover
another object in the window. To remedy this, use manual scaling.
4.13 Notebooks
The migration utility does not yet support notebooks.
You must migrate notebooks manually.
4.14 Dialog Boxes

Dialog boxes in the MF DS are considered objects and are not treated as
windows. In IBM VDE, dialog boxes are secondary windows and are treated as
such. The migration utility recognizes the dialog box and translates it into a
secondary window.
32
4.15 Message Boxes
Figure 30. Message Box Properties Window for MF Dialog System
MF DS message boxes (Figure 30) cannot be migrated automatically, but it is

possible to define a message box manually. In order to migrate a dialog box use
the following method:
In the log file produced by the migration utility, find the message box you
wish to migrate, if any. You should find information similar to:
------------------------- OBJECT :
+++++++++++++++ the above object:
property MOVABLE
property BUTTONS(OK)
property DEFAULT-BUTTON(1)
property NOTIFICATION
MBOX1
(MessageBox)
MBOX1 must be migrated manually
Next, use other information from the exported MF DS .TXT file. If you look for
the string MBOX1, you should receive this type of data:
Object MBOX1
Type MESSAGE-BOX
Parent OEMAIN
Style MOVABLE BUTTONS(OK) DEFAULT-BUTTON(1) NOTIFICATION
Display Invalid price
Message This part and model cannot to be discounted
End Object #NO-DISCOUNT
Go to the VDE and, from the action bar, select:
Project
Messages
Create
You should then see the COBOL GUI Designer - Define Message window
(Figure 31).
33
Figure 31. COBOL GUI Designer - Define Message Window for I B M VDE
At this point it is very easy to port the properties into this window.
34
5.1 A Practical Example

This chapter describes how to migrate the GUI of the Celdial application from the
MF Dialog System to the VisualAge COBOL environment. The celdial.txt file is
available after you install the Migration Utility as outlined in Chapter 8.
Using the Migration Utility tool (Figure 32), create the following:
File Celdial.ODG
File Celdial.ODF
File Celdial.LOG
Part name Celdial part for the IBM VDE catalog
Figure 32. Migration Utility Window.
Shows values used for the Celdial application.
After opening the VDE,
Delete the FRA0000B window from the untitled project.
Go to the parts catalog notebook and from the user-defined page, select the
Celdial part.
35
Drag and drop the Celedial part to the project workframe and wait a few
seconds until the windows of the Celdial application finish building. A sample
of one is shown in Figure 33.
Figure 33. Migrated Ship - ID Window Showing Wrong-Sized Push Buttons.
Because the push button you migrated had the fit-text property, the
dimension of the push button is based on the size of its label. Since this
property cannot be specified within the VDE, you need to resize each push
button manually.
In the settings of all the windows, except for the OEMAIN, flag the attribute
OPEN IMMEDIATELY to off.
Look in the CELDIAL.LOG file for part names longer than 23 characters. In
this case, we found the following:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> part name too long: OEMAIN-ORDER-DETAIL-PARTPRICE

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> it must be at least 23 characters,
CORRECT IT ! in the VDE.
------------------ OBJECT : OEMAIN-ORDER-DETAIL-PARTPRICE (EntryField)
As a remedy, we went back to VDE and changed
OEMAIN-ORDER-DETAIL-PAR, the name that VDE truncated, into
OEMAIN-ORDER-DETAIL-P. This change is needed even if the name has
already been truncated.
Open the source code and save it.
Save the untitled project as Celdial in the \IBMCOBOL\CELDIAL directory.
Check that the return code from the build is zero.
At this point, start reading the CELDIAL.LOG file row by row, looking for
properties you want to keep but that the Migration Utility did not keep.
The first message is about the CLIPPED property of the OEMAIN window:
-------------------------- OBJECT : OEMAIN

(FrameWindow)
property CLIPPED
Ignore the message as this is not a property you can keep, since IBM VDE does
not allow specification of this property.
The second message you find is:
-------------------------- OBJECT : OEMAIN-ORDERREF (EntryField)

property BLANK-WHEN-ZERO
36
If you do not want to write code just to keep this property, ignore the message.
The next message in our example is:
-------------------------- OBJECT : OEMAIN-CUSTNO

(EntryField)
property Null Disallowed
In this case, open the part settings notebook and look first at the datatype. A
character data type with a length equal to seven, can be fixed in the validation
page by specifying Comparison as the validation criterion, with value Not Equal,
then typing seven blanks.
The next message is:
-------------------------- OBJECT : {NoName}

(PushButton)
property FIT-TEXT
This means you need to do some MAKE UP for the dimensions of this push
button.
Then, after some properties already treated, you reach these messages:
-------------------------- OBJECT : NO-DISCOUNT

++++++++++++++ the above object: NO-DISCOUNT must be
property MOVABLE
cannot be implemented
property BUTTONS(OK)
property DEFAULT-BUTTON(1)
property NOTIFICATION
(MessageBox)
migrated manually
automatically.
automatically.
automatically.
automatically.
First, you must understand the content of the message. Looking in the
CELDIAL.TXT file for the NO-DISCOUNT string, you find:
Object NO-DISCOUNT
Type MESSAGE-BOX
Parent OEMAIN
Style MOVABLE BUTTONS(OK) DEFAULT-BUTTON(1) NOTIFICATION
Display Invalid price
Message This part and model cannot be discounted
End Object #NO-DISCOUNT
You then go to the messages window (Figure 34) and translate those properties
as shown.
37
Figure 34. VDE Define Message Window Showing Migration Fixes.
You then reach the end of the CELDIAL.LOG file without finding any other
property that needs to be described. Save the project and try a new build
operation.
38

Before describing how to embed the COBOL logic, we show how to set the
environment to be able to build.
There are several defaults to be changed in the compile-options notebook:
On the syntactical page (Figure 35) flag the second check box ON, enabling
process BASIS and REPLACE statements.
Figure 35. IBM COBOL Compiler Options Window.
Shows changes to syntactical defaults.
In the Debug page (Figure 36), set the check box before the last to ON. This
enables the routine Generate debugging information.
39
Shows changes to debugging defaults.
In the Link page (Figure 37), specify the string:
d:\sqllib\lib\db2api.lib
In the library name entry field.
40
Shows changes to the link defaults.
In the Prep page (not shown) specify the database name.
In the Other page (Figure 38), add a period to the first entry field and flag the
first check box ON, as shown.
41
Shows changes to other defaults.
You are now ready to add the COBOL logic and then compile the whole
application.
6.1 Embedding the Old Code (the OLDMAIN procedure)

The first step before adding event logic is to embed the COBOL program into the
.CBL file of your project.
To do that, for our example, we defined a procedure called OLDMAIN and
decided to embed the whole procedure division in the .CBL file.
We embedded the old COBOL program as follows:
42
We copied the whole program at the end of the project source file into the
VDE CELDIAL.CBL file.
We copied the CELDIAL.CPB and SQLENV.CBL copybook files into the

project directory.
We changed COPY sqlenv. to COPY sqlenv.
We deleted the statements immediately preceding the copybooks.
We deleted the DS-CNTRL.MF copy.
We moved the two remaining copies to the working-storage section.
We created a CELDIAL.001 file to store the variable declared by the old

program and we added this copybook to the other two.
We moved the SQL DECLARE statements to the working storage section.
We discarded the following statements except those flagged with &,
&
&
&
&
&
&
&
&
&
&
procedure division.
main-process section.
perform program-initialize.
perform program-body until exit-pgm-true.
perform program-terminate.
*---------------------------------------------------------------*
*
*
*---------------------------------------------------------------*
program-initialize section.
* Set handler for signal
CALL __SQLGISIG USING SQLCA.
* Connect to db
EXEC SQL
CONNECT TO celdial in SHARE MODE
END-EXEC.
if sqlcode not = 0
display connect error: sqlcode= , sqlcode
go to program-terminate.
*
EXEC SQL WHENEVER SQLERROR GO TO EXT END-EXEC.
*
EXEC SQL WHENEVER NOT FOUND GO TO CLS END-EXEC.
initialize data-block
initialize pgm-flags
move 0 to inx1
move 0 to inx2
move 0 to inx3
perform Start-application.
initialize ds-control-block
move data-block-version-no to ds-data-block-version-no
move version-no to ds-version-no
perform set-date.
perform load-screenset.
*---------------------------------------------------------------* Process the returned user action (in the flags); clear those
* flags and call Dialog System again.
*----------------------------------------------------------------
The statements we kept we then moved between the two statements:
PROCEDURE DIVISION USING CommandLine-Data.

----->
GOBACK
so we could be sure they are executed as soon as the program is run.
We renamed the program-body section OLDMAIN.
We then deleted the statements:
perform call-dialog-system
and
load-screenset section.
* Specify the screenset to be used and call Dialog System.
move ds-new-set to ds-control
move c:\dsg\celdial\celdial.gs
to ds-set-name
43
*---------------------------------------------------------------*
call-dialog-system section.
call dialog-system using ds-control-block,
data-block.
if not ds-no-error
move ds-error-code to display-error-no
display DS ERROR NO: display-error-no
perform program-terminate
end-if.
When we tried to compile, we encountered these error messages:

2745 IGYPS0008-E
A quote or an apostrophe was used as
a character string delimiter. It was not the delimiter option in effect.
The use was accepted.
2756 IGYPS2023-I
Paragraph(s) prior to section OLDMAIN
were not contained in a section.
2806 IGYPS2008-E
A period was required
before procedure-name PROGRAM-TERMINATE .
PROGRAM-TERMINATE .
A period was assumed before
2807 IGYPA3200-S
STOP LITERAL clause was
specified under the THREAD compiler option.
The statement was discarded.
4161
IGYPS0019-W
No COBOL statement was found between periods.
4216 IGYPS2123-S
COMMAND-LINE was not defined as a mnemonic-name.
Same message on line:
4223
4217 IGYPS2121-S
RESULT was not defined as a data-name.
4224
4217 IGYPS2121-S FUNC was not defined as a data-name.
4224
4217 IGYPS2121-S COMMAND-LIN was not defined as a data-name.
4224
4244 IGYPS2015-I The paragraph or section prior to
paragraph or section CLS did not contain any statements.
Messages
Total
Informational
Warning
Error
Severe
Printed:
14
2
1
2
9
Terminating
In order to remove these errors we:
Changed the apostrophe into a double quote at line 2745.
Added a period to the END-EVALUATE statement.
Removed the STOP RUN statement.
Commented out the following statements:
display command-lin-string upon command-line.

call x91 using result, func, command-lin.
which are supposed to run an external REXX procedure.
44
We then tried build again, and got a zero return code from the build,
meaning that we were ready to add events to our project.
Chapter 7. Event Logic Migration to VisualAge COBOL for Sample

Application
7.1 Event to Event Logic

To migrate the event logic from one environment to the other, you must translate
from the language MF Dialog System uses for the logic in its environment to
COBOL. The need for translation is the main reason you must do this migration
step completely by hand.
Start from the .TXT file. and look for the global dialog string to start migrating the
event that sets the environment. You then follow the order of items found in the
.TXT file.
What you find, looking for the global dialog string, is:
Global Dialog
Event ESC
RETC ;
End Event # ESC
Event CLOSED-WINDOW
MOVE 1 EXIT-PGM(1) ;
RETC ;
End Event # CLOSED-WINDOW
Event SCREENSET-INITIALIZED
SET-DATA-GROUP-SIZE SAVORDER 0 ;
MOVE by Dept W51 of STL AUTHOR-LINE ;
SET-COLOR BYLINE LIGHT RED WHITE ;
REFRESH-OBJECT OEMAIN ;
End Event # SCREENSET-INITIALIZED
End Dialog
You need not do anything about either the ESC event or the CLOSED-WINDOW
event. Both are automatically included in the .CBL file created by VDE. For
example, if you look at the content of the OEMAIN_OEMAIN_DESTROY event,
you find:
ENTRY OEMAIN_OEMAIN_DESTROY
USING VDE-CELDIAL.
MOVE VDE-TERMINATE-APPLICATION TO ACTION-RC.
GOBACK.
where the MOVE VDE-TERMINATE-APPLICATION TO ACTION-RC. statement has the
same meaning as MOVE 1 EXIT-PGM(1).
The only thing you then have to migrate is the SCREENSET-INITIALIZED event,
which corresponds to the CREATE event of the main window in VDE. In our
case, that means the OEMAIN_OEMAIN_CREATE event.
The SET-DATA-GROUP-SIZE command is used to set the internal size of a data
group in the Dialog System. Since data groups have a related structure in the
.CPB file that will be included in the COBOL program, it is easy to understand
the translated command:
MOVE 0 TO SAVORDER-SIZE
45
The statement MOVE by Dept W51 of STL AUTHOR-LINE needs no comment for the
translation into COBOL, but you must add some statements to have the same
result. Each entry field in the MF Dialog System has a related masterfield, which
represents the link between the dialog and the logic, thus between the Dialog
System and COBOL, so that modifying the value in the masterfield produces the
change in the related entry field, after a refresh object command. In the VDE, to
change the content of an entry field, you need to add the following code, but do
not need to refresh the object of the whole window:
MOVE LENGTH OF AUTHOR-LINE TO Contents-Length

MOVE AUTHOR-LINE TO Contents-String
CALL setContents USING BYLINE-HANDLE,
Contents,
VDE-RC
The next statement is the colors setting for the BYLINE entry field. To convert
that setting, use the VDE GUI Assistant. In the GUI assistant window, select the
OEMAIN window, the BYLINE entry field, and the setBackColor action, then press
the Move push button displayed in the window (Figure 39).
46
Figure 39. IBM VDE Code Assistant Window.
Shows additions to change colors.
After carrying out this operation in our case, we added the following code to the
event:
MOVE Color-Red TO Color

CALL setForeColor USING BYLINE-HANDLE,
Color,
VDE-RC
MOVE Color-White TO Color
CALL setBackColor USING BYLINE-HANDLE,
Color,
VDE-RC
The last statement has been migrated into this command,
CALL enableFocus USING OEMAIN-HANDLE,

VDE-RC
Chapter 7. Event Logic Migration to VisualAge COBOL for Sample Application
47
although it can be avoided. We decided to add it for illustrative purposes.

Now, starting from the beginning of the .TXT file, stop at each object that has a
dialog to migrate into COBOL, working your way through the whole file.
7.1.1 Events for the OEMAIN-CUSTNO Entry Field

The following is the script for the events of this object
Dialog
Event CR
IF= CUSTNUM BLANK-CUSTNO ;
MOVE 1 CUSTID-USERFILLED(1) ;
RETC ;
BRANCH-TO-PROCEDURE BLANK-CUSTNO ;
End Event # CR
Procedure BLANK-CUSTNO
MOVE 1 CUSTLIST-BOTTON(1) ;
RETC ;
SET-DATA-GROUP-SIZE CUSTLIST CUST-SIZE ;
SHOW-WINDOW SELCUST ;
SET-FOCUS SELCUST ;
End Procedure # VALID-CUSTNO
Event GAINED-FOCUS
MOVE CR for customers MSG-AREA ;
End Event # GAINED-FOCUS
Event LOST-FOCUS
MOVE MSG-AREA ;
End Event # LOST-FOCUS
End Dialog
The CR stands for the Carriage Return event (Figure 40), which has its VDE
equivalent in the VDE VKEY-PRESS event when you press the Return (Newline)
key. Open the VKEY-PRESS event and add a test to ensure that the Return key
was pressed. The test is based on the variable VDE-VKey-Pressed-Data, defined
as:
01 VDE-VKey-Pressed-Data.
05 VCharacter-Key
88 VKey-Escape
88 VKey-Tab
.......
88 VKey-Newline
.......
88 VKey-F24
PIC 9(9) USAGE COMP-5.

VALUE 0.
VALUE 1.
VALUE 6.
VALUE 47.
The code to add is:
ENTRY OEMAIN_OEMAIN-CUSTNO_VKEYPRESS
USING VDE-CELDIAL,
VDE-VKey-Pressed-Data.
IF VKey-Newline THEN
****** LOGIC *********
END-IF
GOBACK.
48
Figure 40. COBOL GUI Designer - Celdial Window.
Shows additions for the carriage return event.
In Figure 40, use the tree-view approach to select the event. This is a valid way
to select events when the window is too populated, since it takes less time to get
the event skeleton code.
Now add the logic for the test on CUSTNUM:
IF CUSTNUM = THEN perform BLANK-CUSTNO END-IF
Then pass the control to the COBOL program, since we want to execute the
routine associated with the flag CUSTID-USERFILLED Add the following
statements:
move 1 to custid-userfilled
perform OLDMAIN
where OLDMAIN is the old COBOL program in our example. We import
OLDMAIN because we want to be able to invoke all the sections it contains.
If the COBOL code has a variable linked to an object, MF Dialog System
automatically refreshes the related object when the parent window is refreshed.
In this case, the ds-customer , ds-custno , and the custnum values have been set.
Thus, to set the customer number entry field, add this logic:
MOVE length of ds-custno TO Contents-Length

MOVE ds-custno TO Contents-String
CALL setContents USING OEMAIN-CUSTNO-HANDLE,
Contents,
VDE-RC
49
The customer : variable updates the customer information automatically, just after
creating and refreshing it.
Then, at the end, the event logic has this shape:
IF CUSTNUM = THEN perform BLANK-CUSTNO END-IF

move 1 to custid-userfilled
perform OLDMAIN
perform BLANK-CUSTNO
You need to translate the BLANK-CUSTNO procedure into COBOL. Here is the
result:
BLANK-CUSTNO section.
MOVE 1 TO CUSTLIST-BOTTON
PERFORM OLDMAIN
CALL openWindow USING SELCUST-HANDLE,
VDE-RC
MOVE 0 TO ItemIndex
MOVE 0 TO counter
perform CUST-SIZE times
ADD 1 TO ItemIndex
ADD 1 TO counter
MOVE length of company(counter) TO Item-Length
MOVE company(counter) TO Item-String
CALL insertItem USING CUSTLIST-LIST-HANDLE,
ItemIndex,
Item,
VDE-RC
end-perform
CALL enableFocus USING SELCUST-HANDLE,
VDE-RC
In our example, we changed the logical order of certain statements. For
example, we must open the window first and then populate it. If not, we would
get an empty list box because we cannot populate the list box before it exists. If
we test the VDE-RC in that case, we get a return code of 9, meaning that the
object referred to in the insertItem statement is not valid (it does not yet exist).
The statement
SET-DATA-GROUP-SIZE CUSTLIST CUST-SIZE

has been translated into the loop
perform CUST-SIZE times
......
end-perform
The GAINED-FOCUS and LOST-FOCUS events became the events GOTFOCUS

and LOSTFOCUS, respectively. After some work with the GUI assistant, we
should get:
ENTRY OEMAIN_OEMAIN-CUSTNO_GOTFOCUS
USING VDE-CELDIAL.
MOVE CR for customers TO MSG-AREA
MOVE length of MSG-AREA TO Contents-Length
MOVE MSG-AREA TO Contents-String
CALL setContents USING MSG-TO-USER-HANDLE,
Contents,
VDE-RC
50
GOBACK.
ENTRY OEMAIN_OEMAIN-CUSTNO_LOSTFOCUS
USING VDE-CELDIAL.
MOVE TO MSG-AREA
MOVE length of MSG-AREA TO Contents-Length
MOVE MSG-AREA TO Contents-String
CALL setContents USING MSG-TO-USER-HANDLE,
Contents,
VDE-RC
GOBACK.
7.1.2 Events for the CUSTINFO-SHIPID Entry Field

Events for this entry field are similar to events we discuss in Section 7.1.3.
7.1.3 Events for the OEMAIN-PARTNO Entry Field

This entry field contains four events to set up:
Press F9
Press Enter (NewLine)
GotFocus
LostFocus
For the first two events, use the VKEYPRESS event:
ENTRY OEMAIN_OEMAIN-PARTNO_VKEYPRESS
USING VDE-CELDIAL,
IF VKey-F9 THEN perform PART-LISTBOX END-IF
IF VKey-Newline THEN
IF COPART = THEN perform PART-LISTBOX END-IF
move 1 to part-userfilled
perform OLDMAIN
perform PART-LISTBOX
END-IF.
PART-LISTBOX.
MOVE 1 TO PART-FROM-LB
perform OLDMAIN
CALL openWindow USING SELPART-HANDLE,
VDE-RC
MOVE 0 TO ItemIndex
MOVE 0 TO counter
perform PROD-SIZE times
ADD 1 TO ItemIndex
ADD 1 TO counter
MOVE 27 TO Item-Length
MOVE spaces TO Item-String
MOVE ds-partno(counter) TO Item-String(1:5)
MOVE ds-partdesc(counter) TO Item-String(8:27)
CALL insertItem USING PARTS-HANDLE,
ItemIndex,
Item,
VDE-RC
end-perform
CALL enableFocus USING SELPART-HANDLE,
VDE-RC
GOBACK.
51
7.1.4 Events for the OEMAIN-PRODUC-MODEL Entry Field

Two new statements are to be found among the events of this object:
CLEAR-OBJECT MODEL-LIST
CLEAR-OBJECT SELMODEL
In our case, these statements need not be converted because when we open a
window, clearance is automatic. If the window is already open and you want to
clear just the MODEL-LIST list box, add a command like this:
CALL getCount USING MODEL-LIST-HANDLE,

ItemCount,
VDE-RC
COMPUTE ItemIndex = ItemCount + 1
perform ItemCount times
COMPUTE ItemIndex = ItemIndex -1
CALL removeItem USING MODEL-LIST-HANDLE,
ItemIndex,
VDE-RC
end-perform
The remaining part of the migration for events of this object is trivial.
7.1.5 Events for the OEMAIN-UNIT Entry Field

The event CR (Newline) seems to be easy and straightforward but, for that very
reason, look carefully at what happens in the COBOL program if there is a
REFRESH command. Masterfields have probably been modified so that after the
refresh action, the window content shows some modification. If you look for the
section that the GO-COMPUTE flag launches, you find the following routine:
compute-subtot section.
move 0 to go-compute
compute cosubtotal = counit * coprice.
compute total = total + cosubtotal.
Since the variables COSUBTOTAL and TOTAL have been modified, check to see
what object they are related to. Get the content of the variables counit and
coprice because if they have been changed from the application, those changes
are reflected automatically in the related variables.
Objects involved in this routine are:
OEMAIN-SUBTOTAL
OEMAIN-TOTAL
OEMAIN-UNIT-HANDLE
OEMAIN-ORDER-DETAIL-P-HANDLE
Here is the logic we added for our example:
ENTRY OEMAIN_OEMAIN-UNIT_VKEYPRESS
USING VDE-CELDIAL,
IF VKey-F9 THEN
CALL getContents USING OEMAIN-UNIT-HANDLE,
Contents,
52
VDE-RC
MOVE Contents-String TO counit
CALL getContents USING OEMAIN-ORDER-DETAIL-P-HANDLE,
Contents,
VDE-RC
MOVE Contents-String TO coprice
MOVE 1 TO go-compute
perform OLDMAIN
MOVE length of cosubtotal TO Contents-Length
MOVE cosubtotal TO Contents-String
CALL setContents USING OEMAIN-SUBTAOTAL-HANDLE,
Contents,
VDE-RC
MOVE length of total TO Contents-Length
MOVE total TO Contents-String
CALL setContents USING OEMAIN-TOTAL-HANDLE,
Contents,
VDE-RC
END-IF
GOBACK.
The remaining events are straightforward and require no comment.
7.1.6 Events for the OEMAIN-CUSTINFO Push Button

Migration of the event looks easy, but unfortunately the logic that must be added
has more statements than the logic to be migrated.
The original logic is as follows:
Dialog
Event BUTTON-SELECTED
IF= CUSTNUM BAD-CUSTNO ;
MOVE 1 CUSTINFO-BOTTON(1) ;
RETC ;
SHOW-WINDOW CUSTINFO ;
SET-FOCUS CUSTINFO ;
REFRESH-OBJECT CUSTINFO ;
End Event # BUTTON-SELECTED
Procedure BAD-CUSTNO
INVOKE-MESSAGE-BOX NO-CUSTNO $NULL $REGISTER ;
End Procedure # BAD-CUSTNO
End Dialog
The IF statement checks whether the customer number is blank, but to do so,
you need the content of that field. You then need to add the routine to invoke the
message box.
First, you need to know which entry field is related to the custnum , variable, then
get its value, and finally test if its content is empty. If so, you need to invoke a
routine that shows the message box. Since there is no link between the Dialog
System message box name and the VDE message box number, you must also
look for the correct message in the VDE message list. Once you have the
message number, we are ready for the migration of the whole event.
Here is the logic you need:
53
ENTRY OEMAIN_OEMAIN-CUSTINFO_PRESS
USING VDE-CELDIAL.
CALL getContents USING OEMAIN-CUSTNO-HANDLE,
Contents,
VDE-RC
MOVE Contents-String TO CUSTNUM
IF CUSTNUM = THEN perform BAD-CUSTNO
ELSE
......
......
END-IF
GOBACK.
bad-custno.
MOVE 2 TO MessageNumber
MOVE 0 TO NumberOfSubStrings
CALL showMsgFromMsgFile USING MsgFileRecord,
MessageButtonReturned,
VDE-RC.
end-bad-custno.
For the rest of the event, you need only get and set contents. There is nothing of
interest in these changes.
7.1.7 Events for the ORDEROK Radio Button

The MF event for this object is :
Dialog
IF= 0 COSUBTOTAL(1) DONT-SAVE ;
MOVE 1 ITEM-OK-BOTTON(1) ;
RETC ;
CLEAR-OBJECT ORDEROK ;
SET-DATA-GROUP-SIZE SAVORDER SAVORDER-SIZE ;
REFRESH-OBJECT OEMAIN-ORDERS ;
Procedure DONT-SAVE
End Procedure # DONT-SAVE
End Dialog
The only item of interest in this event is the CLEAR-OBJECT command. In this
case, since the object is a radio button, this means setting the radio button to
OFF. The equivalent in VDE is:
CALL disableCheck USING ORDEROK-HANDLE,

VDE-RC
The procedure you execute when you pass the ITEM-OK-BOTTON flag to the
COBOL program contains an INITIALIZE statement. This means that all of the
variables and the entry fields related to those variables are updated after a
REFRESH command.
54
7.1.8 Events for the OEMAIN-NEWORDER Push Button

The MF event code is as follows:
Dialog
CLEAR-OBJECT OEMAIN-ORDERS ;
CLEAR-OBJECT OEMAIN ;
MOVE 1 NEWORDER-BOTTON(1) ;
RETC ;
SET-DATA-GROUP-SIZE SAVORDER 0 ;
REFRESH-OBJECT OEMAIN-ORDERS ;
SET-FOCUS OEMAIN ;
End Dialog
The first statement in the button-selected event code says you need to clear the
list box containing orders. First get the number of the items in the list box and
then delete them one by one. Here is the code you need to add for such a job:
ENTRY OEMAIN_OEMAIN-NEWORDER_PRESS
USING VDE-CELDIAL.
CALL getCount USING OEMAIN-ORDERS-HANDLE,
ItemCount,
VDE-RC
MOVE ItemCount TO counter
MOVE 1 TO ItemIndex
perform counter times
CALL removeItem USING OEMAIN-ORDERS-HANDLE,
ItemIndex,
VDE-RC
end-perform
.....
Look also at the content of the perform statement you execute in the OLDMAIN
procedure. You need to update the entry field related to the ordernum variable.
7.1.9 Events for the REVISE-ORDER Radio Button

We can find something new in the Micro Focus event for this object:
Dialog
MOVE 1 REVISE-ORDER-BOTTON(1) ;
GET-SELECTED-LIST-ITEM OEMAIN-ORDERS SELECTED-SAVEDITEM $EVENT-DATA ;
MOVE $EVENT-DATA SELECTED-SAVEDITEM ;
RETC ;
CLEAR-OBJECT REVISE-ORDER ;
DELETE-LIST-ITEM OEMAIN-ORDERS SELECTED-SAVEDITEM $EVENT-DATA ;
SET-DATA-GROUP-SIZE SAVORDER SAVORDER-SIZE ;
End Dialog
Statements that get the selected list item and delete it translate almost one to
one, but their sequence is not the same. In fact, in the Dialog System
environment, to delete a row for a list box, do it after the RETC command, in
order to use new values and then refresh the window with them. In the VDE
environment, you can delete the item before the RETC command because there
is no link between variables and objects. The result of the migration is:
55
ENTRY OEMAIN_REVISE-ORDER_SELECT
USING VDE-CELDIAL.
MOVE 1 TO revise-order-botton
CALL getFirstSelected USING OEMAIN-ORDERS-HANDLE,
ItemIndex,
VDE-RC
MOVE ItemIndex TO Selected-saveditem
CALL removeItem USING OEMAIN-ORDERS-HANDLE,
ItemIndex,
VDE-RC
perform OLDMAIN
MOVE length of total TO Contents-Length
MOVE total TO Contents-String
CALL setContents USING OEMAIN-TOTAL-HANDLE,
Contents,
VDE-RC
.....
CALL disableCheck USING REVISE-ORDER-HANDLE,
VDE-RC
GOBACK.
56
Chapter 8. Installing the Migration Utility
8.1 Hardware and Software Prerequisites

Every machine that can run VisualAge for COBOL has all of the prerequisites
this utility needs. The only feature to check is whether the REXX environment
was installed during the system installation. If not, you have to install it in order
to execute this utility.
The utility needs a total space of about 2 MB.
8.2 Installing the Migration Utility

To install the Migration Utility, carry out these steps:
1. Create a directory (we created the MF2VDE directory).
2. From the diskette, copy into the directory the MF2VDE.ZIP file. Unpack it
with the command:
PKUNZIP MF2VDE.ZIP
Here is the list of files you should have:
DATAVAL.CMD
CELDIAL.TXT
KEYS
KEYS.CMD
STYLES.CMD
ATTRIBUT.CMD
LOGFILE
LOGWRITE.CMD
IWZVMKG.EXE
CHKLIST.MS
CELDIAL.BC
MF2VDE.ERR
MIGRATIO.NEW
MIGRATIO.BC
MIGRATIO.P
RMKG.CMD
BITMAP.CMD
CB.CMD
CHB.CMD
EF.CMD
GB.CMD
LB.CMD
MB.CMD
MENU.CMD
MLE.CMD
PB.CMD
RB.CMD
TEXT.CMD
WINDOW.CMD
MF2VDE.VRX
MF2VDE.VRP
MF2VDE.VRY
VROBJ.DLL
ODGUIDOF
MB
MF2VDE.ICO
30.SCR
30E.SCR
TEMPFILE
MF2VDEPS.CMD
WINDOW
EF
TEXT
TRIAL001
MLE
PB
RB
CB
CHB
MENU
XOR.CMD
IWZVCC.DLL
MIGRATIO.TXT
LB
GB
BITMAP
BOTCORN.CMD
SIZECONV.CMD
PRVA.CMD
M2VLABEL.CMD
STYLENAM.CMD
CATALOG.CMD
GPB
EF.OLD
57
MF2VDE.EXE
A.A
DATATYP.CMD
PMWIN.H
3. Edit the RMKG.CMD file and change the value of the somir variable by
changing its path. For example:
from the value :

to the value :
set somir=d:\ibmcobol\ctrl\iwzvsom.ir
set somir=C:\MYcobol\ctrl\iwzvsom.ir
Do not change the \ctrl\iwzvsom.ir string.

4. Copy the RMKG.CMD and the IWZVMKG.EXE files into the \IBMCOBOL\BIN
directory.
5. Create the program icon on the desktop using the PROGRAM template from
the TEMPLATE folder. Drag it, drop it to the desktop and specify path name,
program name, and working directory as in Figure 41. You may not have
VXREXX as the root of your working directory.
6. Make sure that in your CONFIG.SYS, in the SET LIBPATH command, the
current directory string is specified.
Figure 41. MF2VDE - Settings Window Showing the Migration Utility Settings
If you should need to change the utility logic, you may need to use the VX-REXX
product. Logic for parsing the objects is included in the .CMD file, which can be
changed without the VX-REXX product. The objects are pure REXX code; they
use some of the VX-REXX functions but they have not been compiled and
included in the MF2VDE.EXE file.
The main source file is MF2VDE.VRX.
You cannot successfully modify this source if you do not use the VX-REXX
product.
58
Appendix A. Special Notices

This publication is intended to help application developers to investigate how to
migrate Micro Focus Dialog System OS/2 applications to IBM VisualAge for
COBOL for OS/2. The information in this publication is not intended as the
specification of any programming interfaces that are provided by IBM VisualAge
for COBOL for OS/2. See the PUBLICATIONS section of the IBM Programming
Announcement for IBM VisualAge for COBOL for OS/2 for more information
about what publications are considered to be product documentation.
References in this publication to IBM products, programs or services do not
imply that IBM intends to make these available in all countries in which IBM
operates. Any reference to an IBM product, program, or service is not intended
to state or imply that only IBMs product, program, or service may be used. Any
functionally equivalent program that does not infringe any of IBMs intellectual
property rights may be used instead of the IBM product, program or service.
Information in this book was developed in conjunction with use of the equipment
specified, and is limited in application to those specific hardware and software
products and levels.
IBM may have
this document.
these patents.
Licensing, IBM
patents or pending patent applications covering subject matter in

The furnishing of this document does not give you any license to
You can send license inquiries, in writing, to the IBM Director of
Corporation, 500 Columbus Avenue, Thornwood, NY 10594 USA.
Licensees of this program who wish to have information about it for the purpose
of enabling: (i) the exchange of information between independently created
programs and other programs (including this one) and (ii) the mutual use of the
information which has been exchanged, should contact IBM Corporation, Dept.
600A, Mail Drop 1329, Somers, NY 10589 USA.
Such information may be available, subject to appropriate terms and conditions,
including in some cases, payment of a fee.
The information contained in this document has not been submitted to any
formal IBM test and is distributed AS IS. The information about non-IBM
(vendor) products in this manual has been supplied by the vendor and IBM
assumes no responsibility for its accuracy or completeness. The use of this
information or the implementation of any of these techniques is a customer
responsibility and depends on the customers ability to evaluate and integrate
them into the customers operational environment. While each item may have
been reviewed by IBM for accuracy in a specific situation, there is no guarantee
that the same or similar results will be obtained elsewhere. Customers
attempting to adapt these techniques to their own environments do so at their
own risk.
The following terms are trademarks of the International Business Machines
Corporation in the United States and/or other countries:
DATABASE 2
DB2/2
PS/2
DB2
IBM
VisualAge
The following terms are trademarks of other companies:

59
C-bus is a trademark of Corollary, Inc.

PC Direct is a trademark of Ziff Communications Company and is
used by IBM Corporation under license.
UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other
countries licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Limited.
Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows 95 logo
are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
Java and HotJava are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Micro Focus and Dialog System are trademarks of Micro Focus Corporation
VX-REXX is a trademark of Powersoft, Watcom Products Division.
Powersoft is a trademark of Powersoft Corporation.
Other trademarks are trademarks of their respective companies.
60
Appendix B. Related Publications

The publications listed in this section are considered particularly suitable for a
more detailed discussion of the topics covered in this redbook.
B.1 International Technical Support Organization Publications

For information on ordering these ITSO publications see How to Get ITSO
Redbooks on page 63.
IBM VisualAge for COBOL for OS/2 Primer , SG24-4605
IBM VisualAge for COBOL for OS/2 Workframe User Guide , SG24-4604
IBM VisualAge for COBOL for OS/2 Object Oriented Programming , SG24-4606
B.2 Redbooks on CD-ROMs

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66
Glossary
The terms in this glossary are defined in accordance
with their meaning in COBOL. These terms may or
may not have the same meaning in other languages.
* alternate record key. A key, other than the prime

record key, whose contents identify a record within an
indexed file.
IBM is grateful to the American National Standards

Institute (ANSI) for permission to reprint its definitions
from the following publications:
ANSI (American National Standards Institute). An

organization consisting of producers, consumers, and
general interest groups, that establishes the
procedures by which accredited organizations create
and maintain voluntary industry standards in the
United States.
American National Standard Programming

Language COBOL, ANSI X3.23-1985 (Copyright
1985 American National Standards Institute, Inc.),
which was prepared by Technical Committee
X3J4, which had the task of revising American
National Standard COBOL, X3.23-1974.
American National Dictionary for Information
Processing Systems (Copyright 1982 by the
Computer and Business Equipment Manufacturers
Association).
American National Standard definitions are preceded

by an asterisk (*).
A
* abbreviated combined relation condition. The
combined condition that results from the explicit
omission of a common subject or a common subject
and common relational operator in a consecutive
sequence of relation conditions.
abend.
Abnormal termination of program.
* access mode. The manner in which records are to

be operated upon within a file.
* actual decimal point. The physical representation,
using the decimal point characters period (.) or
comma (,), of the decimal point position in a data
item.
* alphabet-name. A user-defined word, in the
SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph of the ENVIRONMENT
DIVISION, that assigns a name to a specific character
set and/or collating sequence.
* alphabetic character.
A letter or a space character.
* alphanumeric character.
computers character set.
* arithmetic expression. An identifier of a numeric

elementary item, a numeric literal, such identifiers
and literals separated by arithmetic operators, two
arithmetic expressions separated by an arithmetic
operator, or an arithmetic expression enclosed in
parentheses.
* arithmetic operation. The process caused by the
execution of an arithmetic statement, or the
evaluation of an arithmetic expression, that results in
a mathematically correct solution to the arguments
presented.
* arithmetic operator. A single character, or a fixed
two-character combination that belongs to the
following set:
Character
*
/
**
Meaning
addition
subtraction
multiplication
division
exponentiation
* arithmetic statement. A statement that causes an

arithmetic operation to be executed. The arithmetic
statements are the ADD, COMPUTE, DIVIDE,
MULTIPLY, and SUBTRACT statements.
array. In Language Environment, an aggregate
consisting of data objects, each of which may be
uniquely referenced by subscripting. Roughly
analogous to a COBOL table.
Any character in the
alphanumeric-edited character. A character within an

alphanumeric character-string that contains at least
one B, 0 (zero), or / (slash).
* alphanumeric function. A function whose value is
composed of a string of one or more characters from
the computers character set.
* argument. An identifier, a literal, an arithmetic

expression, or a function-identifier that specifies a
value to be used in the evaluation of a function.
* ascending key. A key upon the values of which

data is ordered, starting with the lowest value of the
key up to the highest value of the key, in accordance
with the rules for comparing data items.
ASCII. American National Standard Code for
Information Interchange. The standard code, using a
coded character set consisting of 7-bit coded
characters (8 bits including parity check), used for
information interchange between data processing
systems, data communication systems, and
67
associated equipment. The ASCII set consists of

control characters and graphic characters.
Note: IBM has defined an extension to ASCII code
(characters 128-255).
assignment-name. A name that identifies the
organization of a COBOL file and the name by which it
is known to the system.
* assumed decimal point. A decimal point position
that does not involve the existence of an actual
character in a data item. The assumed decimal point
has logical meaning with no physical representation.
* AT END condition.
A condition caused:
1. During the execution of a READ statement for a

sequentially accessed file, when no next logical
record exists in the file, or when the number of
significant digits in the relative record number is
larger than the size of the relative key data item,
or when an optional input file is not present.
2. During the execution of a RETURN statement,
when no next logical record exists for the
associated sort or merge file.
3. During the execution of a SEARCH statement,
when the search operation terminates without
satisfying the condition specified in any of the
associated WHEN phrases.
be interrupted by external intervention or by a

monitor program.
Btrieve. A key-indexed record management system
that allows applications to manage records by key
value, sequential access method, or random access
method. IBM COBOL supports COBOL sequential and
indexed file I-O language through Btrieve.
buffer. A portion of storage used to hold input or
output data temporarily.
built-in function.
See intrinsic function.
byte. A string consisting of a certain number of bits,

usually eight, treated as a unit, and representing a
character.
C
callable services. In Language Environment, a set of
services that can be invoked by a COBOL program
using the conventional Language Environment-defined
call interface, and usable by all programs sharing the
Language Environment conventions.
called program. A program that is the object of a
CALL statement.
* calling program. A program that executes a CALL
to another program.
B
big-endian. Default format used by the mainframe
and the AIX workstation to store binary data. In this
format, the least significant digit is on the highest
address. Compare with little-endian.
binary item. A numeric data item represented in
binary notation (on the base 2 numbering system).
Binary items have a decimal equivalent consisting of
the decimal digits 0 through 9, plus an operational
sign. The leftmost bit of the item is the operational
sign.
binary search. A dichotomizing search in which, at
each step of the search, the set of data elements is
divided by two; some appropriate action is taken in
the case of an odd number.
* block. A physical unit of data that is normally
composed of one or more logical records. For mass
storage files, a block may contain a portion of a
logical record. The size of a block has no direct
relationship to the size of the file within which the
block is contained or to the size of the logical
record(s) that are either contained within the block or
that overlap the block. The term is synonymous with
physical record.
breakpoint. A place in a computer program, usually
specified by an instruction, where its execution may
68
case structure. A program processing logic in which

a series of conditions is tested in order to make a
choice between a number of resulting actions.
cataloged procedure. A set of job control statements
placed in a partitioned data set called the procedure
library (SYS1.PROCLIB). You can use cataloged
procedures to save time and reduce errors coding
JCL.
century window. The 100-year interval in which
Language Environment assumes all 2-digit years lie.
The Language Environment default century window
begins 80 years before the system date.
* character.
language.
The basic indivisible unit of the
character position. The amount of physical storage

required to store a single standard data format
character described as USAGE IS DISPLAY.
character set. All the valid characters for a
programming language or a computer system.
* character-string. A sequence of contiguous
characters that form a COBOL word, a literal, a
PICTURE character-string, or a comment-entry. Must
be delimited by separators.
checkpoint. A point at which information about the

status of a job and the system can be recorded so
that the job step can be later restarted.
>
<
:
* class. The entity that defines common behavior and

implementation for zero, one, or more objects. The
objects that share the same implementation are
considered to be objects of the same class.
* class condition. The proposition, for which a truth
value can be determined, that the content of an item
is wholly alphabetic, is wholly numeric, or consists
exclusively of those characters listed in the definition
of a class-name.
* Class Definition.
defines a class.
The COBOL source unit that
* class identification entry. An entry in the CLASS-ID

paragraph of the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION which
contains clauses that specify the class-name and
assign selected attributes to the class definition.
* class-name. A user-defined word defined in the
DIVISION that assigns a name to the proposition for
which a truth value can be defined, that the content of
a data item consists exclusively of those characters
listed in the definition of the class-name.
class object.
class.
The run-time object representing a SOM
* clause. An ordered set of consecutive COBOL

character-strings whose purpose is to specify an
attribute of an entry.
CMS (Conversational Monitor System). A virtual
machine operating system that provides general
interactive, time-sharing, problem solving, and
program development capabilities, and that operates
only under the control of the VM/SP control program.
* COBOL character set. The complete COBOL
character set consists of the characters listed below:
Character
0,1...,9
A,B,...,Z
a,b,...,z
*
/
=
$
,
;
.
Meaning
digit
uppercase letter
lowercase letter
space
plus sign
minus sign (hyphen)
asterisk
slant (virgule, slash)
equal sign
currency sign
comma (decimal point)
semicolon
period (decimal point, full stop)
quotation mark
left parenthesis
* COBOL word.
right parenthesis
greater than symbol
less than symbol
colon
See word.
code page. An assignment of graphic characters and

control function meanings to all code points; for
example, assignment of characters and meanings to
256 code points for 8-bit code, assignment of
characters and meanings to 128 code points for 7-bit
code.
* collating sequence. The sequence in which the
characters that are acceptable to a computer are
ordered for purposes of sorting, merging, comparing,
and for processing indexed files sequentially.
* column. A character position within a print line.
The columns are numbered from 1, by 1, starting at
the leftmost character position of the print line and
extending to the rightmost position of the print line.
* combined condition. A condition that is the result of
connecting two or more conditions with the AND or
the OR logical operator.
* comment-entry. An entry in the IDENTIFICATION
DIVISION that may be any combination of characters
from the computers character set.
* comment line. A source program line represented
by an asterisk (*) in the indicator area of the line and
any characters from the computers character set in
area A and area B of that line. The comment line
serves only for documentation in a program. A
special form of comment line represented by a slant
(/) in the indicator area of the line and any characters
from the computers character set in area A and area
B of that line causes page ejection prior to printing
the comment.
* common program. A program which, despite being
directly contained within another program, may be
called from any program directly or indirectly
contained in that other program.
* compile. (1) To translate a program expressed in a
high-level language into a program expressed in an
intermediate language, assembly language, or a
computer language. (2) To prepare a machine
language program from a computer program written
in another programming language by making use of
the overall logic structure of the program, or
generating more than one computer instruction for
each symbolic statement, or both, as well as
performing the function of an assembler.
* compile time. The time at which a COBOL source
program is translated, by a COBOL compiler, to a
COBOL object program.
Glossary
69
compiler. A program that translates a program

written in a higher level language into a machine
language object program.
compiler directing statement. A statement, beginning
with a compiler directing verb, that causes the
compiler to take a specific action during compilation.
compiler directing statement. A statement that
specifies actions to be taken by the compiler during
processing of a COBOL source program. Compiler
directives are contained in the COBOL source
program. Thus, you can specify different suboptions
of the directive within the source program by using
multiple compiler directive statements in the
program.
* complex condition. A condition in which one or
more logical operators act upon one or more
conditions. (See also negated simple condition,
combined condition, and negated combined
condition.)
* computer-name. A system-name that identifies the
computer upon which the program is to be compiled
or run.
condition. An exception that has been enabled, or
recognized, by Language Environment and thus is
eligible to activate user and language condition
handlers. Any alteration to the normal programmed
flow of an application. Conditions can be detected by
the hardware/operating system and results in an
interrupt. They can also be detected by
language-specific generated code or language library
code.
* condition. A status of a program at run time for
which a truth value can be determined. Where the
term condition (condition-1, condition-2,...) appears
in these language specifications in or in reference to
condition (condition-1, condition-2,...) of a general
format, it is a conditional expression consisting of
either a simple condition optionally parenthesized, or
a combined condition consisting of the syntactically
correct combination of simple conditions, logical
operators, and parentheses, for which a truth value
can be determined.
* conditional expression. A simple condition or a
complex condition specified in an EVALUATE, IF,
PERFORM, or SEARCH statement. (See also simple
condition and complex condition.)
* conditional phrase. A conditional phrase specifies
the action to be taken upon determination of the truth
value of a condition resulting from the execution of a
conditional statement.
* conditional statement. A statement specifying that
the truth value of a condition is to be determined and
that the subsequent action of the object program is
dependent on this truth value.
70
* conditional variable. A data item one or more

values of which has a condition-name assigned to it.
* condition-name. A user-defined word that assigns a
name to a subset of values that a conditional variable
may assume; or a user-defined word assigned to a
status of an implementor defined switch or device.
When condition-name is used in the general formats,
it represents a unique data item reference consisting
of a syntactically correct combination of a
condition-name, together with qualifiers and
subscripts, as required for uniqueness of reference.
* condition-name condition. The proposition, for
which a truth value can be determined, that the value
of a conditional variable is a member of the set of
values attributed to a condition-name associated with
the conditional variable.
* CONFIGURATION SECTION. A section of the
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION that describes overall
specifications of source and object programs and
class definitions.
CONSOLE. A COBOL environment-name associated
with the operator console.
* contiguous items. Items that are described by
consecutive entries in the Data Division, and that
bear a definite hierarchic relationship to each other.
CORBA. The Common Object Request Broker
Architecture established by the Object Management
Group. IBM s Interface Definition Language used to
describe the interface for SOM classes is fully
compliant with CORBA standards.
* counter. A data item used for storing numbers or
number representations in a manner that permits
these numbers to be increased or decreased by the
value of another number, or to be changed or reset to
zero or to an arbitrary positive or negative value.
cross-reference listing. The portion of the compiler
listing that contains information on where files, fields,
and indicators are defined, referenced, and modified
in a program.
currency sign. The character $ of the COBOL
character set or that character defined by the
CURRENCY compiler option. If the NOCURRENCY
compiler option is in effect, the currency sign is
defined as the character $.
currency symbol. The character defined by the
CURRENCY compiler option or by the CURRENCY
SIGN clause in the SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph. If the
NOCURRENCY compiler option is in effect for a
COBOL source program and the CURRENCY SIGN
clause is also not present in the source program, the
currency symbol is identical to the currency sign.
* current record. In file processing, the record that is

available in the record area associated with a file.
* current volume pointer. A conceptual entity that
points to the current volume of a sequential file.
D
* data clause. A clause, appearing in a data
description entry in the DATA DIVISION of a COBOL
program, that provides information describing a
particular attribute of a data item.
* data description entry . An entry in the DATA
DIVISION of a COBOL program that is composed of a
level-number followed by a data-name, if required,
and then followed by a set of data clauses, as
required.
DATA DIVISION. One of the four main components of
a COBOL program, class definition, or method
definition. The DATA DIVISION describes the data to
be processed by the object program, class, or
method: files to be used and the records contained
within them; internal working-storage records that will
be needed; data to be made available in more than
one program in the COBOL run unit. (Note, the Class
DATA DIVISION contains only the
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.)
* data item. A unit of data (excluding literals) defined
by a COBOL program or by the rules for function
evaluation.
* data-name. A user-defined word that names a data
item described in a data description entry. When
used in the general formats, data-name represents a
word that must not be reference-modified, subscripted
or qualified unless specifically permitted by the rules
for the format.
DBCS (Double-Byte Character Set). See
Double-Byte Character Set (DBCS).
* debugging line. A debugging line is any line with a
D in the indicator area of the line.
* debugging section. A section that contains a USE
FOR DEBUGGING statement.
* declarative sentence. A compiler directing sentence
consisting of a single USE statement terminated by
the separator period.
* declaratives. A set of one or more special purpose
sections, written at the beginning of the Procedure
Division, the first of which is preceded by the key
word DECLARATIVES and the last of which is followed
by the key words END DECLARATIVES. A declarative
is composed of a section header, followed by a USE
compiler directing sentence, followed by a set of zero,
one, or more associated paragraphs.
* de-edit. The logical removal of all editing

characters from a numeric edited data item in order
to determine that items unedited numeric value.
* delimited scope statement. Any statement that
includes its explicit scope terminator.
* delimiter. A character or a sequence of contiguous
characters that identify the end of a string of
characters and separate that string of characters from
the following string of characters. A delimiter is not
part of the string of characters that it delimits.
* descending key. A key upon the values of which
data is ordered starting with the highest value of key
down to the lowest value of key, in accordance with
the rules for comparing data items.
digit. Any of the numerals from 0 through 9. In
COBOL, the term is not used in reference to any other
symbol.
* digit position. The amount of physical storage
required to store a single digit. This amount may
vary depending on the usage specified in the data
description entry that defines the data item.
* direct access. The facility to obtain data from
storage devices or to enter data into a storage device
in such a way that the process depends only on the
location of that data and not on a reference to data
previously accessed.
* division. A collection of zero, one or more sections
or paragraphs, called the division body, that are
formed and combined in accordance with a specific
set of rules. Each division consists of the division
header and the related division body. There are four
(4) divisions in a COBOL program: Identification,
Environment, Data, and Procedure.
* division header. A combination of words followed
by a separator period that indicates the beginning of
a division. The division headers are:
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
DATA DIVISION.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
do construction. In structured programming, a DO
statement is used to group a number of statements in
a procedure. In COBOL, an in-line PERFORM
statement functions in the same way.
do-until. In structured programming, a do-until loop
will be executed at least once, and until a given
condition is true. In COBOL, a TEST AFTER phrase
used with the PERFORM statement functions in the
same way.
do-while. In structured programming, a do-while loop
will be executed if, and while, a given condition is
Glossary
71
true. In COBOL, a TEST BEFORE phrase used with

the PERFORM statement functions in the same way.
* elementary item. A data item that is described as

not being further logically subdivided.
Double-Byte Character Set (DBCS). A set of

characters in which each character is represented by
two bytes. Languages such as Japanese, Chinese,
and Korean, which contain more symbols than can be
represented by 256 code points, require Double-Byte
Character Sets. Because each character requires two
bytes, entering, displaying, and printing DBCS
characters requires hardware and supporting software
that are DBCS-capable.
enclave. When running under the Language

Environment product, an enclave is analogous to a
run unit. An enclave can create other enclaves on
MVS and CMS by a LINK, on CMS by CMSCALL, and
the use of the system () function of C.
* dynamic access. An access mode in which specific

logical records can be obtained from or placed into a
mass storage file in a nonsequential manner and
obtained from a file in a sequential manner during the
scope of the same OPEN statement.
Dynamic Storage Area (DSA). Dynamically acquired
storage composed of a register save area and an
area available for dynamic storage allocation (such as
program variables). DSAs are generally allocated
within STACK segments managed by Language
Environment.
E
* EBCDIC (Extended Binary-Coded Decimal
Interchange Code). A coded character set consisting
of 8-bit coded characters.
EBCDIC character. Any one of the symbols included
in the 8-bit EBCDIC (Extended Binary-Coded-Decimal
Interchange Code) set.
edited data item. A data item that has been modified
by suppressing zeroes and/or inserting editing
characters.
* editing character. A single character or a fixed
two-character combination belonging to the following
set:
Character
CR
DB
Z
*
$
,
.
/
Meaning
space
zero
plus
minus
credit
debit
zero suppress
check protect
currency sign
period (decimal point)
element (text element). One logical unit of a string of

text, such as the description of a single data item or
verb, preceded by a unique code identifying the
element type.
72
*end class header. A combination of words, followed

by a separator period, that indicates the end of a
COBOL class definition. The end class header is:
END CLASS class-name.

*end method header. A combination of words,
followed by a separator period, that indicates the end
of a COBOL method definition. The end method
header is:
END METHOD method-name.

* end of Procedure Division. The physical position of
a COBOL source program after which no further
procedures appear.
* end program header. A combination of words,
followed by a separator period, that indicates the end
of a COBOL source program. The end program
header is:
END PROGRAM program-name.

* entry. Any descriptive set of consecutive clauses
terminated by a separator period and written in the
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION, ENVIRONMENT DIVISION,
or DATA DIVISION of a COBOL program.
* environment clause. A clause that appears as part
of an ENVIRONMENT DIVISION entry.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION. One of the four main
component parts of a COBOL program, class
definition, or method definition. The ENVIRONMENT
DIVISION describes the computers upon which the
source program is compiled and those on which the
object program is executed, and provides a linkage
between the logical concept of files and their records,
and the physical aspects of the devices on which files
are stored.
environment-name. A name, specified by IBM, that
identifies system logical units, printer and card punch
control characters, report codes, and/or program
switches. When an environment-name is associated
with a mnemonic-name in the ENVIRONMENT
DIVISION, the mnemonic-name may then be
substituted in any format in which such substitution is
valid.
environment variable. Any of a number of variables
that describe the way an operating system is going to
run and the devices it is going to recognize.
execution time.
See run time.
execution-time environment.
environment.
See run-time
* explicit scope terminator. A reserved word that

terminates the scope of a particular Procedure
Division statement.
exponent. A number, indicating the power to which
another number (the base) is to be raised. Positive
exponents denote multiplication, negative exponents
denote division, fractional exponents denote a root of
a quantity. In COBOL, an exponential expression is
indicated with the symbol ** followed by the
exponent.
For example, a floating-point representation of the

number 0.0001234 is: 0.1234 -3, where 0.1234 is the
mantissa and -3 is the exponent.
* external switch. A hardware or software device,
defined and named by the implementor, which is used
to indicate that one of two alternate states exists.
F
* figurative constant. A compiler-generated value
referenced through the use of certain reserved words.
* file.
* expression.
expression.
A collection of logical records.
An arithmetic or conditional
* extend mode. The state of a file after execution of

an OPEN statement, with the EXTEND phrase specified
for that file, and before the execution of a CLOSE
statement, without the REEL or UNIT phrase for that
file.
extensions. Certain COBOL syntax and semantics
supported by IBM compilers in addition to those
described in ANSI Standard.
* file attribute conflict condition. An unsuccessful

attempt has been made to execute an input-output
operation on a file and the file attributes, as specified
for that file in the program, do not match the fixed
attributes for that file.
* file clause. A clause that appears as part of any of
the following DATA DIVISION entries: file description
entry (FD entry) and sort-merge file description entry
(SD entry).
* external data. The data described in a program as

external data items and external file connectors.
* file connector. A storage area which contains

information about a file and is used as the linkage
between a file-name and a physical file and between
a file-name and its associated record area.
* external data item. A data item which is described

as part of an external record in one or more
programs of a run unit and which itself may be
referenced from any program in which it is described.
File-Control. The name of an ENVIRONMENT

DIVISION paragraph in which the data files for a given
source program are declared.
* external data record. A logical record which is

described in one or more programs of a run unit and
whose constituent data items may be referenced from
any program in which they are described.
external decimal item. A format for representing
numbers in which the digit is contained in bits 4
through 7 and the sign is contained in bits 0 through 3
of the rightmost byte. Bits 0 through 3 of all other
bytes contain 1s (hex F). For example, the decimal
value of +123 is represented as 1111 0001 1111 0010
1111 0011. (Also know as zoned decimal item.)
* file control entry. A SELECT clause and all its

subordinate clauses which declare the relevant
physical attributes of a file.
* file description entry. An entry in the File Section
of the DATA DIVISION that is composed of the level
indicator FD, followed by a file-name, and then
followed by a set of file clauses as required.
* file-name. A user-defined word that names a file
connector described in a file description entry or a
sort-merge file description entry within the File
Section of the DATA DIVISION.
* external file connector. A file connector which is

accessible to one or more object programs in the run
unit.
* file organization. The permanent logical file

structure established at the time that a file is created.
external floating-point item. A format for

representing numbers in which a real number is
represented by a pair of distinct numerals. In a
floating-point representation, the real number is the
product of the fixed-point part (the first numeral), and
a value obtained by raising the implicit floating-point
base to a power denoted by the exponent (the second
numeral).
*file position indicator. A conceptual entity that

contains the value of the current key within the key of
reference for an indexed file, or the record number of
the current record for a sequential file, or the relative
record number of the current record for a relative file,
or indicates that no next logical record exists, or that
an optional input file is not present, or that the at end
condition already exists, or that no valid next record
has been established.
Glossary
73
* File Section. The section of the DATA DIVISION

that contains file description entries and sort-merge
file description entries together with their associated
record descriptions.
file system. The collection of files and file
management structures on a physical or logical mass
storage device, such as a diskette or minidisk.
* fixed file attributes. Information about a file which
is established when a file is created and cannot
subsequently be changed during the existence of the
file. These attributes include the organization of the
file (sequential, relative, or indexed), the prime record
key, the alternate record keys, the code set, the
minimum and maximum record size, the record type
(fixed or variable), the collating sequence of the keys
for indexed files, the blocking factor, the padding
character, and the record delimiter.
* fixed length record. A record associated with a file
whose file description or sort-merge description entry
requires that all records contain the same number of
character positions.
fixed-point number. A numeric data item defined
with a PICTURE clause that specifies the location of
an optional sign, the number of digits it contains, and
the location of an optional decimal point. The format
may be either binary, packed decimal, or external
decimal.
floating-point number. A numeric data item
containing a fraction and an exponent. Its value is
obtained by multiplying the fraction by the base of the
numeric data item raised to the power specified by
the exponent.
* format.
A specific arrangement of a set of data.
* function. A temporary data item whose value is

determined at the time the function is referenced
during the execution of a statement.
* function-identifier. A syntactically correct
combination of character-strings and separators that
references a function. The data item represented by
a function is uniquely identified by a function-name
with its arguments, if any. A function-identifier may
include a reference-modifier. A function-identifier that
references an alphanumeric function may be specified
anywhere in the general formats that an identifier
may be specified, subject to certain restrictions. A
function-identifier that references an integer or
numeric function may be referenced anywhere in the
general formats that an arithmetic expression may be
specified.
function-name. A word that names the mechanism
whose invocation, along with required arguments,
determines the value of a function.
74
G
* global name. A name which is declared in only one
program but which may be referenced from that
program and from any program contained within that
program. Condition-names, data-names, file-names,
record-names, report-names, and some special
registers may be global names.
* group item. A data item that is composed of
subordinate data items.
H
header label. (1) A file label or data set label that
precedes the data records on a unit of recording
media. (2) Synonym for beginning-of-file label.
* high order end.
of characters.
The leftmost character of a string
I
IBM COBOL extension. Certain COBOL syntax and
semantics supported by IBM compilers in addition to
those described in ANSI Standard.
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION. One of the four main
component parts of a COBOL program, class
definition, or method definition. The IDENTIFICATION
DIVISION identifies the program name, class name, or
method name. The IDENTIFICATION DIVISION may
include the following documentation: author name,
installation, or date.
* identifier. A syntactically correct combination of
character-strings and separators that names a data
item. When referencing a data item that is not a
function, an identifier consists of a data-name,
together with its qualifiers, subscripts, and
reference-modifier, as required for uniqueness of
reference. When referencing a data item which is a
function, a function-identifier is used.
IGZCBSN. The COBOL for MVS and VM bootstrap
routine. It must be link-edited with any module that
contains a COBOL for MVS and VM program.
* imperative statement. A statement that either
begins with an imperative verb and specifies an
unconditional action to be taken or is a conditional
statement that is delimited by its explicit scope
terminator (delimited scope statement). A n
imperative statement may consist of a sequence of
imperative statements.
* implicit scope terminator. A separator period which
terminates the scope of any preceding unterminated
statement, or a phrase of a statement which by its
occurrence indicates the end of the scope of any
statement contained within the preceding phrase.
* index. A computer storage area or register, the

content of which represents the identification of a
particular element in a table.
identifier phrase), CLOSE, DELETE, DISPLAY, OPEN,

READ, REWRITE, SET (with the TO ON or TO OFF
phrase), START, and WRITE.
* index data item. A data item in which the values

associated with an index-name can be stored in a
form specified by the implementor.
* input procedure. A set of statements, to which

control is given during the execution of a SORT
statement, for the purpose of controlling the release
of specified records to be sorted.
indexed data-name. An identifier that is composed of

a data-name, followed by one or more index-names
enclosed in parentheses.
* indexed organization. The permanent logical file

structure in which each record is identified by the
value of one or more keys within that record.
instance data. Data defining the state of an object.

The instance data introduced by a class is defined in
the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION of the DATA
DIVISION of the class definition. The state of an
object also includes the state of the instance
variables introduced by base classes that are
inherited by the current class. A separate copy of the
instance data is created for each object instance.
indexing. Synonymous with subscripting using

index-names.
* integer. (1) A numeric literal that does not include

any digit positions to the right of the decimal point.
* index-name. A user-defined word that names an

index associated with a specific table.
(2) A numeric data item defined in the DATA DIVISION

that does not include any digit positions to the right of
the decimal point.
* inheritance (for classes). A mechanism for using

the implementation of one or more classes as the
basis for another class. A sub-class inherits from one
or more super-classes . By definition the inheriting
class conforms to the inherited classes.
(3) A numeric function whose definition provides that

all digits to the right of the decimal point are zero in
the returned value for any possible evaluation of the
function.
* indexed file.
A file with indexed organization.
* initial program. A program that is placed into an

initial state every time the program is called in a run
unit.
* initial state. The state of a program when it is first
called in a run unit.
inline. In a program, instructions that are executed
sequentially, without branching to routines,
subroutines, or other programs.
* input file.
A file that is opened in the INPUT mode.
* input mode. The state of a file after execution of an

OPEN statement, with the INPUT phrase specified, for
that file and before the execution of a CLOSE
statement, without the REEL or UNIT phrase for that
file.
* input-output file.
mode.
A file that is opened in the I-O
* INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION. The section of the

ENVIRONMENT DIVISION that names the files and the
external media required by an object program or
method and that provides information required for
transmission and handling of data during execution of
the object program or method definition.
* Input-Output statement. A statement that causes
files to be processed by performing operations upon
individual records or upon the file as a unit. The
input-output statements are: ACCEPT (with the
integer function. A function whose category is

numeric and whose definition does not include any
digit positions to the right of the decimal point.
interface. The information that a client must know to
use a class the names of its attributes and the
signatures of its methods . With direct-to-SOM
compilers such as COBOL, the interface to a class
may be defined by native language syntax for class
definitions. Classes implemented in other languages
might have their interfaces defined directly in SOM
Interface Definition Language (IDL). The COBOL
compiler has a compiler option, IDLGEN, to
automatically generate IDL for a COBOL class.
Interface Definition Language (IDL). The formal
language (independent of any programming language)
by which the interface for a class of objects is defined
in a IDL file, which the SOM compiler then interprets
to create an implementation template file and binding
files. SOMs Interface Definition Language is fully
compliant with standards established by the Object
Management Groups Common Object Request Broker
Architecture ( CORBA ).
interlanguage communication (ILC). The ability of
routines written in different programming languages
to communicate. ILC support allows the application
writer to readily build applications from component
routines written in a variety of languages.
intermediate result. An intermediate field containing
the results of a succession of arithmetic operations.
Glossary
75
* internal data. The data described in a program

excluding all external data items and external file
connectors. Items described in the LINKAGE
SECTION of a program are treated as internal data.
* internal data item. A data item which is described
in one program in a run unit. An internal data item
may have a global name.
internal decimal item. A format in which each byte in
a field except the rightmost byte represents two
numeric digits. The rightmost byte contains one digit
and the sign. For example, the decimal value +123
is represented as 0001 0010 0011 1111. (Also known
as packed decimal.)
* internal file connector. A file connector which is
accessible to only one object program in the run unit.
* intra-record data structure. The entire collection of
groups and elementary data items from a logical
record which is defined by a contiguous subset of the
data description entries which describe that record.
These data description entries include all entries
whose level-number is greater than the level-number
of the first data description entry describing the
intra-record data structure.
intrinsic function. A pre-defined function, such as a
commonly used arithmetic function, called by a
built-in function reference.
* invalid key condition. A condition, at object time,
caused when a specific value of the key associated
with an indexed or relative file is determined to be
invalid.
* I-O-CONTROL. The name of an ENVIRONMENT
DIVISION paragraph in which object program
requirements for rerun points, sharing of same areas
by several data files, and multiple file storage on a
single input-output device are specified.
* I-O-CONTROL entry. An entry in the I-O-CONTROL
paragraph of the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION which
contains clauses that provide information required for
the transmission and handling of data on named files
during the execution of a program.
* I-O-Mode. The state of a file after execution of an
OPEN statement, with the I-O phrase specified, for
that file and before the execution of a CLOSE
statement without the REEL or UNIT phase for that
file.
* I-O status. A conceptual entity which contains the
two-character value indicating the resulting status of
an input-output operation. This value is made
available to the program through the use of the FILE
STATUS clause in the file control entry for the file.
76
iteration structure. A program processing logic in

which a series of statements is repeated while a
condition is true or until a condition is true.
K
K. When referring to storage capacity, two to the
tenth power; 1024 in decimal notation.
* key. A data item that identifies the location of a
record, or a set of data items which serve to identify
the ordering of data.
* key of reference. The key, either prime or
alternate, currently being used to access records
within an indexed file.
* key word. A reserved word or function-name
whose presence is required when the format in which
the word appears is used in a source program.
kilobyte (KB).
One kilobyte equals 1024 bytes.
L
* language-name. A system-name that specifies a
particular programming language.
Language Environment-conforming. A characteristic
of compiler products (COBOL/370, COBOL for MVS
and VM, AD/Cycle C/370, C/C++ for MVS and VM,
PL/I for MVS and VM) that produce object code
conforming to the Language Environment format.
last-used state. A program is in last-used state if its
internal values remain the same as when the program
was exited (are not reset to their initial values).
* letter. A character belonging to one of the following
two sets:
1. Uppercase letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L,
M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
2. Lowercase letters: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m,
n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z
* level indicator. Two alphabetic characters that
identify a specific type of file or a position in a
hierarchy. The level indicators in the DATA DIVISION
are: CD, FD, and SD.
* level-number. A user-defined word, expressed as a
two digit number, which indicates the hierarchical
position of a data item or the special properties of a
data description entry. Level-numbers in the range
from 1 through 49 indicate the position of a data item
in the hierarchical structure of a logical record.
Level-numbers in the range 1 through 9 may be
written either as a single digit or as a zero followed
by a significant digit. Level-numbers 66, 77 and 88
identify special properties of a data description entry.
* library-name. A user-defined word that names a

COBOL library that is to be used by the compiler for a
given source program compilation.
* mass storage device. A device having a large

storage capacity; for example, magnetic disk,
magnetic drum.
* library text. A sequence of text words, comment

lines, the separator space, or the separator
pseudo-text delimiter in a COBOL library.
* mass storage file. A collection of records that is

assigned to a mass storage medium.
LILIAN DATE. The number of days since the

beginning of the Gregorian calendar. Day one is
Friday, October 15, 1582. The Lilian date format is
named in honor of Luigi Lilio, the creator of the
Gregorian calendar.
* LINAGE-COUNTER. A special register whose value
points to the current position within the page body.
LINKAGE SECTION. The section in the DATA
DIVISION of the called program that describes data
items available from the calling program. These data
items may be referred to by both the calling and
called program.
literal. A character-string whose value is specified
either by the ordered set of characters comprising the
string, or by the use of a figurative constant.
local. A set of attributes for a program execution
environment indicating culturally sensitive
considerations, such as: character code page,
collating sequence, date/time format, monetary value
representation, numeric value representation, or
language.
* LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION. The section of the
DATA DIVISION that defines storage that is allocated
and freed on a per-invocation basis, depending on the
value assigned in their VALUE clauses.
* logical operator. One of the reserved words AND,
OR, or NOT. In the formation of a condition, either
AND, or OR, or both can be used as logical
connectives. NOT can be used for logical negation.
* logical record. The most inclusive data item. The
level-number for a record is 01. A record may be
either an elementary item or a group of items. The
term is synonymous with record.
* low order end.
of characters.
The rightmost character of a string
M
main program. In a hierarchy of programs and
subroutines, the first program to receive control when
the programs are run.
* mass storage. A storage medium in which data
may be organized and maintained in both a
sequential and nonsequential manner.
* megabyte (M).
bytes.
One megabyte equals 1,048,576
* merge file. A collection of records to be merged by

a MERGE statement. The merge file is created and
can be used only by the merge function.
metaclass. A SOM class whose instances are SOM
class-objects. The methods defined in metaclasses
are executed without requiring any object instances of
the class to exist, and are frequently used to create
instances of the class.
method. Procedural code that defines one of the
operations supported by an object, and that is
executed by an INVOKE statement on that object.
* Method Definition.
defines a method.
The COBOL source unit that
* method identification entry. An entry in the

METHOD-ID paragraph of the IDENTIFICATION
DIVISION which contains clauses that specify the
method-name and assign selected attributes to the
method definition.
* method-name.
method.
A user-defined word that identifies a
* mnemonic-name. A user-defined word that is

associated in the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION with a
specified implementor-name.
multitasking. Mode of operation that provides for the
concurrent, or interleaved, execution of two or more
tasks. When running under the Language
Environment product, multitasking is synonymous with
multithreading .
MVS/XA* (Multiple Virtual Storage/Extended
Architecture). An IBM operating system that
manages multiple virtual address spaces in IBM
processors operating in extended architecture mode.
MVS/XA supports the 31-bit addressing mechanism of
extended architecture mode, and therefore, allows an
address space as large as 2 31 bytes (2048 megabytes
or 2 gigabytes).
N
name. A word composed of not more than 30
characters that defines a COBOL operand.
* native character set. The implementor-defined
character set associated with the computer specified
in the OBJECT-COMPUTER paragraph.
Glossary
77
* native collating sequence. The implementor-defined

collating sequence associated with the computer
specified in the OBJECT-COMPUTER paragraph.
* negated combined condition. The NOT logical
operator immediately followed by a parenthesized
combined condition.
* negated simple condition. The NOT logical
operator immediately followed by a simple condition.
nested program. A program that is directly contained
within another program.
* next executable sentence. The next sentence to
which control will be transferred after execution of the
current statement is complete.
* next executable statement. The next statement to
which control will be transferred after execution of the
current statement is complete.
* next record. The record that logically follows the
current record of a file.
* noncontiguous items. Elementary data items in the
WORKING-STORAGE and LINKAGE SECTIONs that
bear no hierarchic relationship to other data items.
* nonnumeric item. A data item whose description
permits its content to be composed of any
combination of characters taken from the computers
character set. Certain categories of nonnumeric
items may be formed from more restricted character
sets.
* nonnumeric literal. A literal bounded by quotation
marks. The string of characters may include any
character in the computers character set.
null. Figurative constant used to assign the value of
an invalid address to pointer data items. NULLS can
be used wherever NULL can be used.
* numeric character. A character that belongs to the
following set of digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
numeric-edited item. A numeric item that is in such a
form that it may be used in printed output. It may
consist of external decimal digits from 0 through 9,
the decimal point, commas, the dollar sign, editing
sign control symbols, plus other editing symbols.
* numeric literal. A literal composed of one or more

numeric characters that may contain either a decimal
point, or an algebraic sign, or both. The decimal point
must not be the rightmost character. The algebraic
sign, if present, must be the leftmost character.
O
object. An entity that has state (its data values) and
operations (its methods). An object is a way to
encapsulate state and behavior.
object code. Output from a compiler or assembler
that is itself executable machine code or is suitable
for processing to produce executable machine code.
* OBJECT-COMPUTER. The name of an
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION paragraph in which the
computer environment, within which the object
program is executed, is described.
* object computer entry. An entry in the
OBJECT-COMPUTER paragraph of the ENVIRONMENT
DIVISION which contains clauses that describe the
computer environment in which the object program is
to be executed.
object deck. A portion of an object program suitable
as input to a linkage editor. Synonymous with object
module and text deck .
object module.
Synonym for object deck or text deck .
* object of entry. A set of operands and reserved

words, within a DATA DIVISION entry of a COBOL
program, that immediately follows the subject of the
entry.
* object program. A set or group of executable
machine language instructions and other material
designed to interact with data to provide problem
solutions. In this context, an object program is
generally the machine language result of the
operation of a COBOL compiler on a source program.
Where there is no danger of ambiguity, the word
program alone may be used in place of the phrase
object program.
* object time. The time at which an object program is
executed. The term is synonymous with execution
time.
* numeric function. A function whose class and

category are numeric but which for some possible
evaluation does not satisfy the requirements of
integer functions.
* obsolete element. A COBOL language element in

Standard COBOL that is to be deleted from the next
revision of Standard COBOL.
* numeric item. A data item whose description

restricts its content to a value represented by
characters chosen from the digits from 0 through 9;
if signed, the item may also contain a + , , or
other representation of an operational sign.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION
01 TABLE-1.
05 X
05 Y OCCURS 3 TIMES
DEPENDING ON X
ODO object.
78
In the example below,
PICS9.
PIC X.
X is the object of the OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause

(ODO object). The value of the ODO object
determines how many of the ODO subject appear in
the table.
ODO subject. In the example above, Y is the subject
of the OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause (ODO subject).
The number of Y ODO subjects that appear in the
table depends on the value of X.
* open mode. The state of a file after execution of an
OPEN statement for that file and before the execution
of a CLOSE statement without the REEL or UNIT
phrase for that file. The particular open mode is
specified in the OPEN statement as either INPUT,
OUTPUT, I-O or EXTEND.
* operand. Whereas the general definition of operand
is that component which is operated upon, for the
purposes of this document, any lowercase word (or
words) that appears in a statement or entry format
may be considered to be an operand and, as such, is
an implied reference to the data indicated by the
operand.
* operational sign. An algebraic sign, associated with
a numeric data item or a numeric literal, to indicate
whether its value is positive or negative.
* optional file. A file which is declared as being not
necessarily present each time the object program is
executed. The object program causes an
interrogation for the presence or absence of the file.
* optional word. A reserved word that is included in
a specific format only to improve the readability of
the language and whose presence is optional to the
user when the format in which the word appears is
used in a source program.
OS/2 (Operating System/2*). A multi-tasking
operating system for the IBM Personal Computer
family that allows you to run both DOS mode and
OS/2 mode programs.
* output file. A file that is opened in either the
OUTPUT mode or EXTEND mode.
* output mode. The state of a file after execution of
an OPEN statement, with the OUTPUT or EXTEND
phrase specified, for that file and before the execution
of a CLOSE statement without the REEL or UNIT
phrase for that file.
* output procedure. A set of statements to which
control is given during execution of a SORT statement
after the sort function is completed, or during
execution of a MERGE statement after the merge
function reaches a point at which it can select the
next record in merged order when requested.
overflow condition. A condition that occurs when a

portion of the result of an operation exceeds the
capacity of the intended unit of storage.
P
packed decimal item.
See internal decimal item.
* padding character. An alphanumeric character used

to fill the unused character positions in a physical
record.
page. A vertical division of output data representing
a physical separation of such data, the separation
being based on internal logical requirements and/or
external characteristics of the output medium.
* page body. That part of the logical page in which
lines can be written and/or spaced.
* paragraph. In the Procedure Division, a
paragraph-name followed by a separator period and
by zero, one, or more sentences. In the
IDENTIFICATION and ENVIRONMENT DIVISIONs, a
paragraph header followed by zero, one, or more
entries.
* paragraph header. A reserved word, followed by
the separator period, that indicates the beginning of a
paragraph in the IDENTIFICATION and ENVIRONMENT
DIVISIONs. The permissible paragraph headers in the
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION are:
PROGRAM-ID. (Program IDENTIFICATION DIVISION only)

CLASS-ID. (Class IDENTIFICATION DIVISION only)
METHOD-ID. (Method IDENTIFICATION DIVISION only)
AUTHOR.
INSTALLATION.
DATE-WRITTEN.
DATE-COMPILED.
SECURITY.
The permissible paragraph headers in the
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION are:
SOURCE-COMPUTER.
OBJECT-COMPUTER.
SPECIAL-NAMES.
REPOSITORY. (Program or Class CONFIGURATION SECTION only)
FILE-CONTROL.
I-O-CONTROL.
* paragraph-name. A user-defined word that
identifies and begins a paragraph in the Procedure
Division.
parameter. Parameters are used to pass data values
between calling and called programs.
password. A unique string of characters that a
program, computer operator, or user must supply to
meet security requirements before gaining access to
data.
Glossary
79
* phrase. A phrase is an ordered set of one or more

consecutive COBOL character-strings that form a
portion of a COBOL procedural statement or of a
COBOL clause.
* physical record.
See block.
pointer data item. A data item in which address

values can be stored. Data items are explicitly
defined as pointers with the USAGE IS POINTER
clause. ADDRESS OF special registers are implicitly
defined as pointer data items. Pointer data items can
be compared for equality or moved to other pointer
data items.
portability. The ability to transfer an application
program from one application platform to another
with relatively few changes to the source program.
preloaded. In COBOL this refers to COBOL programs
that remain resident in storage under IMS instead of
being loaded each time they are called.
* prime record key. A key whose contents uniquely
identify a record within an indexed file.
* priority-number. A user-defined word which
classifies sections in the Procedure Division for
purposes of segmentation. Segment-numbers may
contain only the characters 0,1, ... , 9. A
segment-number may be expressed either as a oneor two-digit number.
* procedure. A paragraph or group of logically
successive paragraphs, or a section or group of
logically successive sections, within the Procedure
Division.
* procedure branching statement. A statement that
causes the explicit transfer of control to a statement
other than the next executable statement in the
sequence in which the statements are written in the
source program. The procedure branching
statements are: ALTER, CALL, EXIT, EXIT PROGRAM,
GO TO, MERGE, (with the OUTPUT PROCEDURE
phrase), PERFORM and SORT (with the INPUT
PROCEDURE or OUTPUT PROCEDURE phrase).
Procedure Division. One of the four main component
parts of a COBOL program, class definition, or method
definition. The Procedure Division contains
instructions for solving a problem. The Program and
Method Procedure Divisions may contain imperative
statements, conditional statements, compiler directing
statements, paragraphs, procedures, and sections.
The Class Procedure Division contains only method
definitions.
performed procedures. Contained program procedure

integration is the process where a CALL to a
contained program is replaced by the program code.
* procedure-name. A user-defined word that is used
to name a paragraph or section in the Procedure
Division. It consists of a paragraph-name (which may
be qualified) or a section-name.
procedure-pointer data item. A data item in which a
pointer to an entry point can be stored. A data item
defined with the USAGE IS PROCEDURE-POINTER
clause contains the address of a procedure entry
point.
* program identification entry. An entry in the
PROGRAM-ID paragraph of the IDENTIFICATION
DIVISION which contains clauses that specify the
program-name and assign selected program
attributes to the program.
* program-name. In the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION
and the end program header, a user-defined word
that identifies a COBOL source program.
* pseudo-text. A sequence of text words, comment
lines, or the separator space in a source program or
COBOL library bounded by, but not including,
pseudo-text delimiters.
* pseudo-text delimiter. Two contiguous equal sign
characters (==) used to delimit pseudo-text.
* punctuation character.
the following set:
Character
,
;
:
.
(
)
A character that belongs to
Meaning
comma
semicolon
colon
period (full stop)
quotation mark
left parenthesis
right parenthesis
space
equal sign
Q
QSAM (Queued Sequential Access Method). An
extended version of the basic sequential access
method (BSAM). When this method is used, a queue
is formed of input data blocks that are awaiting
processing or of output data blocks that have been
processed and are awaiting transfer to auxiliary
storage or to an output device.
procedure integration. One of the functions of the

COBOL optimizer is to simplify calls to performed
procedures or contained programs.
* qualified data-name. An identifier that is composed

of a data-name followed by one or more sets of either
of the connectives OF and IN followed by a data-name
qualifier.
PERFORM procedure integration is the process

whereby a PERFORM statement is replaced by its
* qualifier.
80
1. A data-name or a name associated with a level

indicator which is used in a reference either
together with another data-name which is the
name of an item that is subordinate to the
qualifier or together with a condition-name.
2. A section-name that is used in a reference
together with a paragraph-name specified in that
section.
3. A library-name that is used in a reference
together with a text-name associated with that
library.
R
* random access. An access mode in which the
program-specified value of a key data item identifies
the logical record that is obtained from, deleted from,
or placed into a relative or indexed file.
* record.
See logical record.
reentrant. The attribute of a program or routine that

allows more than one user to share a single copy of a
load module.
* reference format. A format that provides a
standard method for describing COBOL source
programs.
reference modification. A method of defining a new
alphanumeric data item by specifying the leftmost
character and length relative to the leftmost character
of another alphanumeric data item.
* reference-modifier. A syntactically correct
combination of character-strings and separators that
defines a unique data item. It includes a delimiting
left parenthesis separator, the leftmost character
position, a colon separator, optionally a length, and a
delimiting right parenthesis separator.
* relation. See relational operator or relation
condition.
* record area. A storage area allocated for the

purpose of processing the record described in a
record description entry in the File Section of the
DATA DIVISION. In the File Section, the current
number of character positions in the record area is
determined by the explicit or implicit RECORD clause.
* relational operator. A reserved word, a relation

character, a group of consecutive reserved words, or
a group of consecutive reserved words and relation
characters used in the construction of a relation
condition. The permissible operators and their
meanings are:
* record description.
Operator
IS GREATER THAN
IS >
IS NOT GREATER THAN
IS NOT >
Meaning
Greater than
Greater than
Not greater than
Not greater than
IS
IS
IS
IS
NOT LESS THAN

NOT <
Less than
Less than
Not less than
Not less than
IS
IS
IS
IS
EQUAL TO
=
NOT EQUAL TO
NOT =
Equal to
Equal to
Not equal to
Not equal to
See record description entry.
* record description entry. The total set of data

description entries associated with a particular
record. The term is synonymous with record
description.
recording mode. The format of the logical records in
a file. Recording mode can be F (fixed-length), V
(variable-length), S (spanned), or U (undefined).
record key. A key whose contents identify a record
within an indexed file.
* record-name. A user-defined word that names a
record described in a record description entry in the
DATA DIVISION of a COBOL program.
* record number. The ordinal number of a record in
the file whose organization is sequential.
LESS THAN
<
IS GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO

Greater than or equal to
IS >=
Greater than or equal to
recursion. A program calling itself or being directly

or indirectly called by a one of its called programs.
IS LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO

Less than or equal to
IS <=
Less than or equal to
recursively capable. A program is recursively

capable (can be called recursively) if the RECURSIVE
attribute is on the PROGRAM-ID statement.
* relation character.
following set:
reel. A discrete portion of a storage medium, the

dimensions of which are determined by each
implementor that contains part of a file, all of a file, or
any number of files. The term is synonymous with
unit and volume.
Character
>
<
=
A character that belongs to the
Meaning
greater than
less than
equal to
Glossary
81
* relation condition. The proposition, for which a

truth value can be determined, that the value of an
arithmetic expression, data item, nonnumeric literal,
or index-name has a specific relationship to the value
of another arithmetic expression, data item,
nonnumeric literal, or index name. (See also
relational operator.)
* relative file.
A file with relative organization.
* relative key. A key whose contents identify a

logical record in a relative file.
* relative organization. The permanent logical file
structure in which each record is uniquely identified
by an integer value greater than zero, which specifies
the records logical ordinal position in the file.
* relative record number. The ordinal number of a
record in a file whose organization is relative. This
number is treated as a numeric literal which is an
integer.
* reserved word. A COBOL word specified in the list
of words that may be used in a COBOL source
program, but that must not appear in the program as
user-defined words or system-names.
* resource. A facility or service, controlled by the
operating system, that can be used by an executing
program.
* resultant identifier. A user-defined data item that is
to contain the result of an arithmetic operation.
reusable environment. A reusable environment is
when you establish an assembler program as the
main program by using either ILBOSTP0 programs,
IGZERRE programs, or the RTEREUS run-time option.
routine. A set of statements in a COBOL program
that causes the computer to perform an operation or
series of related operations. In Language
Environment, refers to either a procedure, function, or
subroutine.
* routine-name. A user-defined word that identifies a
procedure written in a language other than COBOL.
* run time. The time at which an object program is
executed. The term is synonymous with object time.
run-time environment. The environment in which a
COBOL program executes.
* run unit. A stand-alone object program, or several
object programs, that interact via COBOL CALL
statements, which function at run time as an entity.
S
SBCS (Single Byte Character Set).
Character Set (SBCS) .
See Single Byte
scope terminator. A COBOL reserved word that

marks the end of certain Procedure Division
statements. It may be either explicit (END-ADD, for
example) or implicit (separator period).
* section. A set of zero, one or more paragraphs or
entities, called a section body, the first of which is
preceded by a section header. Each section consists
of the section header and the related section body.
* section header. A combination of words followed by
a separator period that indicates the beginning of a
section in the Environment, Data, and Procedure
Divisions. In the ENVIRONMENT and DATA
DIVISIONs, a section header is composed of reserved
words followed by a separator period. The
permissible section headers in the ENVIRONMENT
DIVISION are:
CONFIGURATION SECTION.
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
The permissible section headers in the DATA
DIVISION are:
FILE SECTION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION.
LINKAGE SECTION.
In the Procedure Division, a section header is
composed of a section-name, followed by the
reserved word SECTION, followed by a separator
period.
* section-name. A user-defined word that names a
section in the Procedure Division.
selection structure. A program processing logic in
which one or another series of statements is
executed, depending on whether a condition is true or
false.
* sentence. A sequence of one or more statements,
the last of which is terminated by a separator period.
* separately compiled program. A program which,
together with its contained programs, is compiled
separately from all other programs.
* separator. A character or two contiguous
characters used to delimit character-strings.
* separator comma. A comma (,) followed by a space
used to delimit character-strings.
* separator period. A period (.) followed by a space
used to delimit character-strings.
82
* separator semicolon. A semicolon (;) followed by a

space used to delimit character-strings.
sequence structure. A program processing logic in
which a series of statements is executed in sequential
order.
* sequential access. An access mode in which logical
records are obtained from or placed into a file in a
consecutive predecessor-to-successor logical record
sequence determined by the order of records in the
file.
* sequential file.
A file with sequential organization.
* sequential organization. The permanent logical file

structure in which a record is identified by a
predecessor-successor relationship established when
the record is placed into the file.
serial search. A search in which the members of a
set are consecutively examined, beginning with the
first member and ending with the last.
* 77-level-description-entry. A data description entry
that describes a noncontiguous data item with the
level-number 77.
* sign condition. The proposition, for which a truth
value can be determined, that the algebraic value of a
data item or an arithmetic expression is either less
than, greater than, or equal to zero.
* simple condition.
the set:
* sort-merge file description entry. An entry in the

File Section of the DATA DIVISION that is composed
of the level indicator SD, followed by a file-name, and
then followed by a set of file clauses as required.
* SOURCE-COMPUTER. The name of an
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION paragraph in which the
computer environment, within which the source
program is compiled, is described.
* source computer entry. An entry in the
SOURCE-COMPUTER paragraph of the ENVIRONMENT
DIVISION which contains clauses that describe the
computer environment in which the source program is
to be compiled.
* source item. An identifier designated by a SOURCE
clause that provides the value of a printable item.
source program. Although it is recognized that a
source program may be represented by other forms
and symbols, in this document it always refers to a
syntactically correct set of COBOL statements. A
COBOL source program commences with the
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION or a COPY statement. A
COBOL source program is terminated by the end
program header, if specified, or by the absence of
additional source program lines.
* special character.
following set:
Character
Any single condition chosen from
Relation condition
Class condition
Condition-name condition
Switch-status condition
Sign condition
*
/
=
$
,
;
.
Single Byte Character Set (SBCS). A set of

characters in which each character is represented by
a single byte. See also EBCDIC (Extended
Binary-Coded Decimal Interchange Code).
slack bytes. Bytes inserted between data items or
records to ensure correct alignment of some numeric
items. Slack bytes contain no meaningful data. In
some cases, they are inserted by the compiler; in
others, it is the responsibility of the programmer to
insert them. The SYNCHRONIZED clause instructs the
compiler to insert slack bytes when they are needed
for proper alignment. Slack bytes between records
are inserted by the programmer.
SOM. System Object Model
* sort file. A collection of records to be sorted by a
SORT statement. The sort file is created and can be
used by the sort function only.
(
)
>
<
:
A character that belongs to the
Meaning
plus sign
minus sign (hyphen)
asterisk
equal sign
currency sign
semicolon
period (decimal point, full stop)
quotation mark
left parenthesis
right parenthesis
greater than symbol
less than symbol
colon
* special-character word. A reserved word that is an

arithmetic operator or a relation character.
SPECIAL-NAMES. The name of an ENVIRONMENT
DIVISION paragraph in which environment-names are
related to user-specified mnemonic-names.
* special names entry. An entry in the
DIVISION which provides means for specifying the
currency sign; choosing the decimal point; specifying
symbolic characters; relating implementor-names to
user-specified mnemonic-names; relating
alphabet-names to character sets or collating
Glossary
83
sequences; and relating class-names to sets of

characters.
* symbolic-character. A user-defined word that

specifies a user-defined figurative constant.
* special registers. Certain compiler generated

storage areas whose primary use is to store
information produced in conjunction with the use of a
specific COBOL feature.
syntax. (1) The relationship among characters or

groups of characters, independent of their meanings
or the manner of their interpretation and use. (2) The
structure of expressions in a language. (3) The rules
governing the structure of a language. (4) The
relationship among symbols. (5) The rules for the
construction of a statement.
* standard data format. The concept used in

describing the characteristics of data in a COBOL
DATA DIVISION under which the characteristics or
properties of the data are expressed in a form
oriented to the appearance of the data on a printed
page of infinite length and breadth, rather than a form
oriented to the manner in which the data is stored
internally in the computer, or on a particular external
medium.
* statement. A syntactically valid combination of
words, literals, and separators, beginning with a verb,
written in a COBOL source program.
structured programming. A technique for organizing
and coding a computer program in which the program
comprises a hierarchy of segments, each segment
having a single entry point and a single exit point.
Control is passed downward through the structure
without unconditional branches to higher levels of the
hierarchy.
* sub-class. A class that inherits from another class.
When two classes in an inheritance relationship are
considered together, the sub-class is the inheritor or
inheriting class; the super-class is the inheritee or
inherited class.
* subject of entry. An operand or reserved word that
appears immediately following the level indicator or
the level-number in a DATA DIVISION entry.
* subprogram.
System Object Model (SOM). IBMs object-oriented

programming technology for building, packaging, and
manipulating class libraries. SOM conforms to the
Object Management Groups (OMG) Common Object
Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) standards.
T
* table. A set of logically consecutive items of data
that are defined in the DATA DIVISION by means of
the OCCURS clause.
* table element. A data item that belongs to the set
of repeated items comprising a table.
text deck.
* subscripted data-name. An identifier that is

composed of a data-name followed by one or more
subscripts enclosed in parentheses.
* super-class. A class that is inherited by another
class. See also sub-class .
switch-status condition. The proposition, for which a
truth value can be determined, that an UPSI switch,
capable of being set to an on or off status, has
been set to a specific status.
Synonym for object deck or object module .
* text-name.
library text.
A user-defined word that identifies
* text word. A character or a sequence of contiguous

characters between margin A and margin R in a
COBOL library, source program, or in pseudo-text
which is:
A separator, except for: space; a pseudo-text

delimiter; and the opening and closing delimiters
for nonnumeric literals. The right parenthesis and
left parenthesis characters, regardless of context
within the library, source program, or pseudo-text,
are always considered text words.
A literal including, in the case of nonnumeric

literals, the opening quotation mark and the
closing quotation mark that bound the literal.
Any other sequence of contiguous COBOL

characters except comment lines and the word
COPY bounded by separators that are neither a
separator nor a literal.
See called program.
* subscript. An occurrence number represented by

either an integer, a data-name optionally followed by
an integer with the operator + or -, or an index-name
optionally followed by an integer with the operator +
or -, that identifies a particular element in a table. A
subscript may be the word ALL when the subscripted
identifier is used as a function argument for a function
allowing a variable number of arguments.
84
* system-name. A COBOL word that is used to

communicate with the operating environment.
top-down design. The design of a computer program

using a hierarchic structure in which related functions
are performed at each level of the structure.
top-down development.
programming.
See structured
trailer-label. (1) A file or data set label that follows

the data records on a unit of recording medium. (2)
Synonym for end-of-file label.
* truth value. The representation of the result of the
evaluation of a condition in terms of one of two
values: true or false.
U
* unary operator. A plus (+) or a minus (-) sign, that
precedes a variable or a left parenthesis in an
arithmetic expression and that has the effect of
multiplying the expression by +1 or -1, respectively.
unit. A module of direct access, the dimensions of
which are determined by IBM.
universal object reference. A data-name that can
refer to an object of any class.
* unsuccessful execution. The attempted execution of
a statement that does not result in the execution of all
the operations specified by that statement. The
unsuccessful execution of a statement does not affect
any data referenced by that statement, but may affect
status indicators.
* variable occurrence data item. A variable

occurrence data item is a table element which is
repeated a variable number of times. Such an item
must contain an OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause in its
data description entry, or be subordinate to such an
item.
* variably located group.. A group item following, and
not subordinate to, a variable-length table in the
same level-01 record.
* variably located item.. A data item following, and
not subordinate to, a variable-length table in the
same level-01 record.
* verb. A word that expresses an action to be taken
by a COBOL compiler or object program.
VM/SP (Virtual Machine/System Product). An
IBM-licensed program that manages the resources of
a single computer so that multiple computing systems
appear to exist. Each virtual machine is the
functional equivalent of a real machine.
volume. A module of external storage. For tape
devices it is a reel; for direct-access devices it is a
unit.
UPSI switch. A program switch that performs the

functions of a hardware switch. Eight are provided:
UPSI-0 through UPSI-7.
volume switch procedures. System specific

procedures executed automatically when the end of a
unit or reel has been reached before end-of-file has
been reached.
* user-defined word. A COBOL word that must be

supplied by the user to satisfy the format of a clause
or statement.
* word. A character-string of not more than 30

characters which forms a user-defined word, a
system-name, a reserved word, or a function-name.
* variable. A data item whose value may be changed

by execution of the object program. A variable used
in an arithmetic expression must be a numeric
elementary item.
* WORKING-STORAGE SECTION. The section of the

DATA DIVISION that describes working storage data
items, composed either of noncontiguous items or
working storage records or of both.
* variable length record. A record associated with a

file whose file description or sort-merge description
entry permits records to contain a varying number of
character positions.
Z
zoned decimal item.
See external decimal item.
Glossary
85
86
List of Abbreviations
ANSI
American National Standards

Institute
DB2
Data Base 2 from IBM
DS
Dialog System
GUI
graphical user interface
IBM
International Business
Machines Corporation
ITSO
International Technical
Support Organization
MF
Micro Focus
PM
presentation manager
UI
user interface
VDE
visual development
environment
VSAM
virtual storage access

method
87
88
Index
parts in visual development environment (continued)
menu items 26
message boxes 33
multiline entry fields 31
notebooks 32
push buttons 29
radio button 31
selection or combination boxes 31
static text 31
windows 25
PM application
structure 3
A
abbreviations 87
acronyms 87
B
bibliography
61
D
dialog system
comparison to VDE 4
data migration 7
export file 17, 45
migration approach 5
objects 18
sample export file 19
structure 1, 2
R
REXX
VX-REXX
17
S
sample application
customer information window 13
customer list window 13
embedding logic code 42
entry field event code migration 48, 51
event logic migration 45
main window 11
migration 35
migration LOG file 36
o v e r v i e w 11
push button event code migration 53, 54
radio button event code migration 54, 55
select model window 14
select part number window 14
shipid window 15
VDE code assistant 46
window structure 13
M
migration utility
description 17
hardware requirements 57
installation 57
main window 17, 21
software requirements 57
using 21
O
objects in dialog system
bitmaps 32
dialog boxes 32
entry fields 27
group boxes 32
list boxes 30
menu items 26
message boxes 33
multiline entry fields 31
notebooks 32
push buttons 29
radio button 31
selection or combination boxes
static text 31
windows 25
31
visual development environment

comparison to dialog system 4
data migration 7
log file format 20
migration approach 5
ODG file format 20
parts 18
user-defined part 22
P
parts in visual development environment
bitmaps 32
dialog boxes 32
entry fields 27
group boxes 32
list boxes 30
89
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Migrating Micro Focus OS/2 Dialog System Applications

International Technical Support Organization

Migrating Micro Focus OS/2 Dialog System Applications

First Edition (December 1996)

Chapter 4. Comparison of MF Dialog System Objects and VisualAge COBOL

Chapter 6. Embedding COBOL Logic in the Sample Application

Copyright IBM Corp. 1996

Chapter 7. Event Logic Migration to VisualAge COBOL for Sample

How to Get ITSO Redbooks

Appendix B. Related Publications

Micro Focus Dialog System to VisualAge COBOL

Copyright IBM Corp. 1996

Micro Focus Dialog System to VisualAge COBOL

How This Redbook Is Organized

Chapter 2, Sample Application Description

Chapter 3, Migration Utility Overview

Chapter 4, Comparison of MF Dialog System Objects and VisualAge COBOL

Chapter 5, Migrating the Sample Application

Chapter 6, Embedding COBOL Logic in the Sample Application

Chapter 7, Event Logic Migration to VisualAge COBOL for Sample

Chapter 8, Installing the Migration Utility

Copyright IBM Corp. 1996

The Author of This Redbook

Send us a note at the following address:

Micro Focus Dialog System to VisualAge COBOL

Language to language migration

Data format migration

Dialog format migration

Different approach to handling events.

1.1 Description of a Typical GUI MF COBOL Application

A .CBL program (the heart of the application):

Copyright IBM Corp. 1996

Micro Focus Dialog System to VisualAge COBOL

Figure 1. MF DS COBOL Representation.

Graphical representation of the structure of a Micro Focus application.

1.2 Description of a Typical IBM COBOL PM Application

Figure 2. IBM VDE Representation.

Graphical representation of the structure of an I B M COBOL VisualAge

Micro Focus Dialog System to VisualAge COBOL

Figure 3. MF COBOL versus I B M COBOL.

1.3 The Migration Approach

Figure 4. Migration Cycle

1.3.1 Changing from DS to VDE

Micro Focus Dialog System to VisualAge COBOL

Figure 5. MF COBOL versus I B M COBOL.

Summary of steps to perform to migrate from MF to I B M COBOL.

1.3.3 Moving from MF COBOL to IBM COBOL

1.3.4 Data Migration

Figure 6. Conversion Requirements for Data File Migration

Micro Focus Dialog System to VisualAge COBOL

Figure 7. Proposed Migration Tool.

Micro Focus Dialog System to VisualAge COBOL

Chapter 2. Sample Application Description

2.1 Before You Start

LANG environment variable

2.2 Our Approach

2.3 The Application

Copyright IBM Corp. 1996

Figure 8. Main Window of the Celdial Order Entry Application

Micro Focus Dialog System to VisualAge COBOL

Order Summary table

Order History table

Figure 9. Customer List Window